OAE what a night...

A classical concert for the ipod generation


Coriolan Overture, Beethoven
Symphony No. 7, Beethoven
OAE/ Vladimir Jurowski

4 stars

Either the discoball or the orchestra were in the wrong place. Surely? For the latest in their Night Shift series, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment took to the stage in the Roundhouse, Camden – a building which later this week will be hosting the KERRANG! RELENTLESS tour. Something of a departure, then, for both parties.

Since 2006, OAE’s Night Shifts have been quietly re-tuning the strings of the classical world. Audience members can wander in and out of concerts, applaud in between movements and even talk during the performance. But mobiles must still be switched off: as Jurowski joked, “we’re not that relaxed yet”.

After a warm-up act which saw experimental young performers rapping over the top of Beethoven themes, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment took to the stage to perform Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture and Seventh Symphony. Conductor Vladimir Jurowski started by offering a commentary on the music and throughout the performance large screens behind the orchestra zoomed in to focus on fingers spinning and sweat flying. This, combined with Jurowski’s decision to “rewind” the closing bars of the first movement – so the audience could hear how they led into the second – created a concert experience for a technology-driven generation. Jurowski even referenced the ipod as providing a context for the decision to separate each movement: as one might hear them on an ipod shuffle.

Despite all these trappings, it was still the music which held centre stage: Jurowski was a tautened spring of energy, stabbing the air with his baton to emphasise the martial rhythms of the Coriolan overture. Feeding on this, the orchestra gave every ounce of energy to produce a performance of the high standard we have come to expect from the OAE. The second movement of the symphony was imbued with a visceral power, as a result of Jurowski’s emphasis throughout on the relentless rhythms of the symphony. ‘Rhythm is our entire life,’ he said at one point, ‘even death has a certain pace to it’.

The question, though, is whether this kind of concert is “the future” or merely a passing gimmick. The large screens, the commentary and the contemporary setting made a valuable contribution to the audience’s experience of the music. But as far as the “relaxed” atmosphere goes? People did occasionally creep out to get another beer and some audience members did, even, take up the invitation to talk – although they were often briskly hushed by their neighbour.

Most of the audience, myself included, however, sat in silence. Not because we had to – this, as the OAE stated, was “classical music minus the rules” – but because we chose to. This music has survived over the centuries; it still has what Jurowski called ‘the power, after 200 years, to engage people as if they know what is going on’. I passed on a second drink and gave this magnificent music my full attention, because it deserves no less.

The next Night Shift will be in the Queen Elizabeth Hall on 25 May.