Conducting Concert Review

St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra

Sunday 15th February 2015
Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Romeo & Juliet Fantasy Overture
Camille Saint-Sans Cello Concerto No. 1
Pyotr IlyichTchaikovsky Symphony No. 6
Alexander Dmitriev Conductor
In a concert from Russias oldest orchestra conducted by their Russian conductor of
30 years, Alexander Dmitriev, one would expect a programme of mainly Russian
Romantic music to be executed with finesse. It was immediately clear from the
opening bars of the Overture that Dmitriev was very at home with Tchaikovskys
works. Conducting without a score, he was obviously intimately familiar with both
Tchaikovsky pieces, in slight contrast to the Cello Concerto which was done with a
score and with much less ease.
Throughout the concert however, Dmitrievs conducting style was very interesting to
watch. There was obviously a good relationship between him and the orchestra as
he was able to trust them to follow his extensive rubato without letting it drag,
particularly in the Overture which was far more polar in tempo than any version I
have heard of this piece. His frequent cueing was obviously matched to individual
sections or players, making use of his own space to make it clear who he was
focussing on. This was helped by his placement of sections, for example having the
horns amongst the cellos and basses, away from the rest of the wind and brass. This
also made it apparent that at times he would ignore the tune to conduct the intricate
off-beat rhythmic material for momentums sake. He also had a wide variety of
physical contortions to indicate the intensity of the music by the size of his gestures
or the pitch, by gesturing above his head for higher pitched material or almost
squatting for bass passages impressive for a man in his eighties! Dmitriev made
use of the method of giving his beats significantly before they were to be played,

particularly in emphatic phrases, which helps the intensity as the players have more
warning of what is coming, but requires a strong conductor-orchestral understanding.
However, with the soloist in the Cello Concerto, Natalie Clein, Dmitriev appeared
less at ease, having to jump ahead or back as the soloist was not watching him.
Most of the time he did manage to catch up, but occasionally it appeared slightly out
of sync between orchestra and soloist, which made it slightly less comfortable to
watch as the audience was not quite certain that everything was alright. Despite this,
and aided by the fewer desks of strings used for this piece, Dmitriev kept the second
movement under impressively tight dynamic control by use of very close, minimal
hand movements to keep it no louder than a piano.
Altogether this concert showed off a highly skilled conductor who has an almost
unparalleled relationship with a world-class orchestra over thirty years, however as
with any conductor and orchestra, they have their strengths and weaknesses, and in
this case Dmitrievs strength definitely appears to be in the massive Russian
Romantic works.

Reference
St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra Usher Hall Concert Programme