Thursday 12 February 2026
The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
*****
The Hallé and Kahchun Wong shine in Beethoven’s heroic symphony
For a second at the start of Thursday evening’s Beethoven-themed concert, it felt as if the opening piece was his Coriolan Overture. In fact, the concert began with subito con forza (suddenly with force, a common marking of Beethoven’s in his scores) by the South Korean composer Unsuk Chin. She wrote the piece in 2020 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Beethoven’s birth. Her piece is a loving tribute to the composer.
Chin was inspired by Beethoven’s works, some of which she quotes, such as the opening chord of the Coriolan Overture and, later, the opening rhythm of his Symphony No. 5. On a human level, she was also inspired by his increasing struggle with hearing loss and the ‘inner rage and frustration’ he experienced, which
‘may have found their expression in the extreme range of his musical language, spanning emotions from volcanic eruptions to utmost serenity.’
Chin’s piece vividly conveyed the range of emotions Beethoven experienced, refracted through the sensibility of a contemporary composer, a series of phantasmagoric images: from spectral and shimmering upper strings to macabre lower strings, stabbed chords, and waves of sound. A highlight was the piano solo, played dexterously by Gemma Beeson, reminiscent of the French composer Olivier Messiaen’s piano music. Near the end, the rhythmic four-note from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony was wittily passed round the orchestra.
The next piece also featured a distinctive four-note theme (see ‘Shostakovich and DSCH’, below), Shostakovich’s Cello Concerto No. 1. The composer wrote the concerto in 1959 for the Russian cellist Mstislav Rostropovich. It features some of the most virtuosic and difficult music written for the instrument, spanning the entire fingerboard from the lowest to the highest reaches. Unusually for a 20th-century symphony, there are no brass instruments except for a single French horn, which plays a major role in the first and last movements.
The first movement began with the German cellist Jan Vogler playing the four-note theme, surrounded by playful woodwind. Grumbling bassoons, mocking violins and clarinet put the virtuosic playing of the cello into sarcastic relief. The solo French horn, superbly played by Laurence Rogers, stole the cello’s four-note theme. The horn kept on having its say until the cello picked up the theme, as if it had won the battle. But the conflict continued to the end of the movement, which ended suddenly with a horn flourish as if the horn had finally triumphed.
The second movement began with night music, reminding us that Shostakovich shared Beethoven’s ability to write music of ‘utmost serenity’ as well as the strident music of the previous movement. Vogler turned to watch the strings intently as they played. The horn joined with its own hunting horn theme, prompting the cello to start playing. Vogler played with lovely legato and tone, as mesmerising strings surrounded him. Throughout the concerto, Vogler seemed relaxed, thoughtful, sometimes wistful, as if he was completely at one with his cello. The night music returned, mournfully reaching for an achingly beautiful high note. Vogler played a series of long cantabile notes against breathtaking harmonies: a moment of stunning beauty. The movement ended with another spellbinding moment, a ghostly duet between Vogler on cello and Gemma Beeson on celeste.
The third movement was a fully-composed cadenza for solo cello, possibly the first time such a movement appeared in the history of the concerto. Doleful cello chords separated the virtuoso passages. Vogler wore his phenomenal technique lightly, playing at first mournfully, then with a lively double-stopping in a dancing theme that could have come from a Bach cello suite, then a lonely, nostalgic and eerie theme, ending with a frenzied journey across the fingerboard.
Without a break, the orchestra joined in the fourth movement, with the composer in full sarcastic mode again, particularly in the opening dance theme, with ironic woodwind swoops, and a grotesquely piercing clarinet. As if to defy the orchestra, the cello began an incredibly fast run, which the orchestra briefly matched before giving up and accompanying Vogler instead. The solo horn wheedled its way back in again, then majestically restated the concerto’s opening four-note theme. The piece ended with huge thwacks on the timpani, and conductor Kahchun Wong rightly applauded both the horn and the cello soloists.
Shostakovich and DSCH
Shostakovich often used DSCH in his works to represent his own name in German musical notation (Dmitri Schostakowitsch) = D-S-C-H = D – E flat – C – B). This sequence of notes became so strongly associated with his works that the Schostakowitsch Festival in Leipzig last May adopted the acronym in their publicity material.
In his Cello Concerto No. 1, the composer uses another four-note motif, G – F flat -C flat – B flat, which some believe is a distant variant of the D-S-C-H theme. Shostakovich used it in his autobiographical String Quartet No. 8. He also used a related version in his score for the 1948 film The Young Guard.
Jan Vogler’s encore was JS Bach’s timeless C Major Sarabande, in which he brought out the full resonance of his 1703 Stradivari cello. He played with great elegance, warmth and poise – and superb control.
In her programme note, Unsuk Chin described Beethoven as,
‘arguably the first modernist composer in musical history, a figure who constantly felt the urge to stretch the boundaries of musical language, and whose quest for originality completely changed the course of music history.’
The Hallé’s performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’ under Kahchun Wong felt fresh and new. The performers, except for the lower strings, all stood, which perhaps gave them additional energy. Wong stood on a specially raised podium so the standing players could see him. From behind, his figure brought to mind the Wanderer in Caspar David Friedrich’s painting, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, the Romantic hero in control of all he sees.
Conducting without a score, Wong was so excited to launch his performance that the audience had barely stopped clapping when he raised his arms to launch the symphony from the vertiginous heights of the podium. In the first movement, he had immediate control of the main theme, superbly shaping the limpid textures, while assigning weight where necessary. The tempi were fast but perfectly disciplined, and Wong pulled them back where appropriate. The orchestra really dug into the repeated chords, reacting to the punchy gestures from Wong’s left hand. He brought out details like the short horn motif, pointing his finger up to the heavens. Sometimes he shook his fist in passionate affirmation, at other times, he flicked his fingers to create precision in the orchestra. He drew out the sense of inevitability, as the music unfolded, that much great music has.
The second movement, a funeral march, was not overly mournful, but still respectful, with a sense of hushed awe, feeling perfectly paced. There were splendid solos from the oboist Stéphane Rancourt. The wind playing was gorgeous, offset against heavy strings. As the movement progressed, the textures grew heavier and the counterpoint denser, yet Wong still maintained absolute clarity. The funeral march theme was almost buried in ornamentation, but then a more robust restatement of it emerged. There was a sorrowful ending as the funeral procession crept away with a gentle flourish.
In contrast, the scherzo was immediately jolly, bubbling up nicely. The sense of momentum was restored here, with double basses much lighter than they often are in this movement. A repeated offbeat phrase had an elegant twist at the end. The horn trio was excellent here. The orchestra began a spritely dance – delightful and foot-tapping. The final movement burst in with an explosion of joy. An elegant fugue was superbly ornamented. The whole orchestra was dancing, before a series of graceful pauses. Under Wong’s expert baton, a syncopated section was clearly delineated, and the texture was almost Mozartian. There was a mellow oboe solo, and a robust hunting horn theme as the movement headed to a celebratory ending. Beethoven famously destroyed his dedication to Napoleon as the hero of the symphony, but the real heroes on Thursday evening were Wong and his orchestra.
Repertoire
Unsuk Chin subito con forza
Shostakovich Cello Concerto No. 1
JS Bach C Major Sarabande (encore for solo cello)
Beethoven Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’
Performers
The Hallé
Kahchun Wong conductor
Jan Vogler cello
Sources
Programme note on subito con forza by Unsuk Chin
The concert will be repeated on Sunday 15 February at 16.00.
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