Music A standard lamp, a chaise longue, a grand piano, et voilà: a Paris salon. If selling an idea – of romance, of style – is part of the language of music, Stéphane Denève’s Parisian portrait succeeded. Spreading his springtime fête musicale over the course of two weekends, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s music director made Glasgow believe that it was imbibing the very air of the French capital.
He talked, he played the piano. Above all, he entertained. Denève
can interpret symphonies as well as any thirty-something conductor, but no one can charm an audience as wittily as he. The RSNO’s fortunes have rocketed since he arrived in 2005, and Saturday’s three-hour marathon demonstrated why. Denève is a communicator, and in the idea of Paris he had something irresistible to sell.
The concert began with the early 20th-century salon – intimate bonbons ranging from Satie’s Gymnopédie No 1 and mélodies by Fauré and Hahn (sung by Thomas Dolié) to the four-hand Dolly Suite, in which Denève joined Jean-Yves Thibaudet at the keyboard. Très agréable. Then came “the New Parisians”: six short orchestral works by French composers of the same generation as Denève. In theory this was a coup – to sell a whole tranche of new music to an unsuspecting capacity audience. However, the truth was less exciting. Denève has never made any secret of the fact that he is an anti-modernist: he likes his new music to sound old.
And so we heard a succession of derivative divertissements, by Guillaume Connesson among others, that no one could possibly object to. Honour was restored with a Ravel G major concerto from Thibaudet that had fragrance, effervescence and substance, followed by the best rendition of Gershwin’s An American in Paris this side of the Seine.
Two conclusions: first, when the French interpret their own repertoire, they do it with a lot less lingering sentiment, and a much lighter touch, than anyone else. Second, I wouldn’t want to hear a conductor talking this much at every concert, but when you have someone as chaleureux as Denève you can sell classical music to anyone. What he must do now is think up a suitable encore for next season. ★★★★☆
