I was on a downloading spree for Shostakovich symphonies one afternoon when I came across the name Vasily Petrenko, an “alarmingly young” (as Geoffrey Norris of The Telegraph puts it) Russian conductor who is currently serving his post as Chief Conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO) in London. I intently watched his impassioned interpretation of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 and later found myself scouring for symphonies he conducted, which included Mahler, Liszt, Schubert and Tchaikovsky. After seeing his acuteness, i felt infected by a renewed rabidity for the most complex (but least fashionable) form of music.
Vasily Petrenko conducts the RLPO
I had no education in classical music, and it was my brief postulancy with the Benedictines at St. Scholastica’s in Manila – where I was made to deliver a simple Mozart piece that introduced me to it. And my fascination never ceased since then. Here comes the young and doozy Petrenko who renders riveting performances that keeps you fastened and subsequently jolted. Tim Ashley (of The Guardian) once wrote about his rendition of Schubert’s 5th symphony, saying: “he opted for toughness rather than charm, tacitly reminding us that Schubert was no drip, and that his symphonies are often characterized by searching emotional rigour”.
Petrenko might be a little overhyped, but his personal magnetism has drawn new and substantially younger listeners to classical music, which is often assailed for its dullness and for being snobbish and incomprehensible. And his presence has simultaneously brought RLPO smashing box office records. Is it caused by some kind of charisma called the ‘Petrenko effect’? Geoffrey Norris thinks so, saying "It is what happens when a young, dynamic, personable conductor comes to an orchestra that has not been enjoying the best of luck or reputations and, well under a year, turns it around, boosts it morale and propels into the public consciousness".
I guess so too; I felt I was struck by this same kind of effect, especially at the time when I was engrossed with anything Shostakovich, which happens to be in Petrenko’s repertoire. It is in all likelihood that Shostakovich would be part of his list; they are both celebrated Russian artists who make history and culture evident in their artistic expressions. And one of Petrenko’s accolades was winning the Shostakovisch Choral Conducting Competition in St. Petersburg in 1997.
In performing Shostakovich’s 6th symphony with the RLPO, Petrenko embodied Shostakovich and the profound nature of the symphony’s emotional expression. And this is what I admired him for – his personification of Shostakovich who provided musical backdrop for the Russian Revolution and whose music evinced resistance to Nazi’s militarism and fascism.
He is young, yet blazing in his artistic expressions. And that makes me hunger for music, whatever form and genre, that express of more relevant issues of the times; music that transcend the selfish angst and vernal affinity for self-edification as evident in today’s many mainstream forms.
Photo credit: http://markmcnulty.co.uk/gallery/performance/
