Colors of Slavic classics

The BCN Clàssics season is progressing smoothly, cruising along at a steady pace. Its commitment to the great repertoire ensures a loyal audience; the soloists are top-notch, and the orchestral ensembles and their respective conductors are more or less equally impressive. Monday's concert reaffirmed this, with Slavic colors courtesy of Mussorgsky and Khachaturian, and two well-known works, amidst which we discovered something truly wonderful. Violin Concerto of Khatxaturian.

The Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra opened fire with A night on the bare mountain Mussorgsky's work, a piece much celebrated in animated films, should never be taken to extremes lest it sound like a haunted house. Room must be left for ambiguity and ambivalence, and Daniel Raiskin's baton achieved this brilliantly, thanks to the complicity of an orchestra with a velvety sound, featuring sinuous woodwinds and compact, generous brass, without ever becoming strident.

Slavic color also permeates the Violin Concerto by the Georgian—but of Armenian origin—Aram Khachaturian, so mistreated and vilified by the Soviet regime and, subsequently, by music history itself. Certainly, the musician bequeathed to us works that have since been popularized in the most clumsy manner, but his catalog includes pieces of great interest, such as this violin concerto, conventional in form and melodic treatment but imaginative in its structure and demanding in its execution, surpassed with excellence by the Moldovan Alexandra Conunova. Phrasing, rhythmic punctuation, and a generous bow stroke facilitated a meticulous reading of the Armenian composer's work. The only criticism one can level at the soloist is a touch of coldness in her attack, which she approaches with a sense of security rather than risk. It is a choice.

Mussorgsky returned for the second part, with the celebrated orchestral version of Pictures at an ExhibitionIf we disregard the constant interference with the author's work... Boris Godunov (Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich and evidently Ravel in the case of the Paintings...), it must be acknowledged that the grandiose brilliance of the concluding Kiiv Gate or the shady dealings of Bydlo They continue to enchant audiences around the world.