In seventh viola heaven with the Parisian Antoine Tamestit

The sketches for the viola concerto are the last musical thoughts of Béla Bartók, who was already severely affected by his leukemia in 1945, and despite this, or perhaps because of this, composed music of infinite beauty. This work was celebrated at the third concert of the Bruckner Orchestra series in the Brucknerhaus by one of the leading viola players of our time – Antoine Tamestit.

Absolute tension

It is fascinating to watch him make music, to feel the tremendous energy that he transmits to the orchestra and at the same time to hear an absolutely perfectly designed solo part. Technically, he is so above things, has internalized the music in its entirety in such a way that he can playfully awaken Bartók’s virtuoso thoughts into a lively discourse. There was not a second in which there was not absolute tension, not a moment that was not devoted to intense composition.

No less perfect was the realization of the orchestral part under Giedre Slekyte, who has been the first guest conductor of the Bruckner Orchestra since 2021/22, and who not only demonstrated his qualities as a partner of Antoine Tamestit. As a bonus, the Paris-born exceptional musician played two of Bartók’s duos with his viola colleague Benedict Mitterbauer. Before that, Bartók’s always charming “Dance Suite”, for which Giedre Slekyte and the orchestra found a fine approach that ideally oscillated between powerful rhythmic accents and tonal finesse.

The second part was Bohuslav Martinu’s fourth symphony, composed in the same year and also in American exile as Bartók’s Viola Concerto. But this work, peppered with “charming melodies” – according to the composer – had its premiere in Philadelphia in the same year.

But this most famous of the six symphonies lives not only from the fine melodies reminiscent of his Czech homeland, but also from rhythmic sophistication. Here, too, Giedre Slekyte shows herself to be the ideal guardian of the score, who controls the groups precisely and thus evokes a convincing overall sound and leads the musicians to an intensive togetherness.