CURRY MUST BE SPICY

BY BART DE VRIES

As a pianist Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847) has been likened to Mozart. At the tender age of 12, he had to prove his skills in front of Goethe, who had known the famous composer from Salzburg. The comparison may have been strengthened by a similarity in the relation to their older sisters. Nannerl was to Wolfgang what Fanny was to Felix. Both were highly talented pianists and composers in their own right, though from the first no compositions have remained. As such, Nannerl and Fanny were at the heart of some of their brothers’ compositions.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’s concerto for two pianos in E Major, for instance, which he wrote when he was only 14 years old, had been composed with Fanny in mind. It was premiered in 1823 with the two siblings as the soloists. Mendelssohn didn’t think much of his composition, finding it too immature. Despite his later improvements, it wasn’t published until 1961. In Lucas and Arthur Jussen, the Dutch former child stars among the clas sical pianists, the 200year-old work has found two ardent advocates.

Over the phone, while driving from one concert to another, they share their enthusiasm for the concerto. “It is genius and naïve at the same time. Incredible that this work was created by a 14-year-old. The progression of the harmonies is brilliant and precocious. It is youthful and fresh, and the long virtuoso runs make it brim with energy. The themes and the concerto as a whole could have been more concise, but overall, it is a feast to play, and it is received very well by the audience.”

The Jussens never bicker about who plays which part. “We just toss a coin,” they say. “Besides, in a good concerto the parts are equal, which is certainly the case in this work.” In the first movement the two pianists play a game of question-and-answer, and the motifs are passed from one to another and back. The second movement consists of two long solos, one each, with minimal accompaniment of the orchestra. While the first solo is romantic, naïve and gentle, the second is dark, gloomy and dramatic. In the third and final movement the pianos play different themes, but the atmosphere is the same.

Although the Jussens may have passed the age at which Mendelssohn composed his concerto – Lucas is 30, Arthur is 26 – their youthfulness helps to convey the spirit of the work. “Seeing two old people shuffling onto the stage and playing the piece a tad too slow, just doesn’t get the message across. Curry must be spicy, so to speak”, the brothers explain. Should we hence expect a fast interpretation? “No, we will play the concerto at the appropriate speed.”

Contrasting Mendelssohn’s fervent composition, the SOB will play Johan nes Brahms’ Second Symphony. Written in only four months while vacationing at Wörthersee in Austria, the work, at first glance, is idyllic, cheerful and expansive. But underlying the major key of all four movements is a stark melancholy current that reflects the composer’s bleak outlook on life, musically symbolized by the trombones and the tubas.