The Dome, 17 1 15
It may have been a dull winter’s evening but the music spoke of light and energy throughout, with a richly romantic combination of late nineteenth century works.
One the benefits of hearing operatic overtures in the concert hall is the greater clarity it brings to the score and none more so than the Prelude to Humperdinck’s Hansel und Gretel. This is post-Wagnerian writing at its best, with the melodic lines sliding effortlessly around each other to create an enveloping cocoon of sound. Rory Macdonald’s crisp approach and clarity of line meant that the counterpoint was clear throughout and the subtle shifts in mood pointed without being over-extended.
Lambis Vassiliadis’ approach to piano playing reminds one of the stories of Liszt with its explosive dynamism and authority. His approach to Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto was virile throughout with the left hand often hammering out the chords to a point where one wondered if the instrument could take the weight. And yet there was nothing unmusical about the performance; it was totally convincing and inspiring. If Rory Macdonald had seemed to be taking a very precise approach to phrasing in the opening section, Lambis Vassiliadis created a continuous gentle tension with his use of rubato and rapid changes of mood. Long passages would build to heady climaxes only to disappear into thin air.
He gave us a lengthy Lisztian encore which was even more dazzling technically and left the piano needing a rub-down and a rest. (I later found that this was Liszt’s Reminiscences of Norma)
The sense of the open air which had been evident in Hansel und Gretel returned with Dvorak’s 8th Symphony. Breathing light and a sense of the joy of life throughout, it allowed us to hear some very fine solo playing along with the warm intensity of the strings. If tempi were on the fast side, the symphony never seemed rushed, rather there was a delight in the ability to spin musical lines with such ease. The splendid trumpet solo which opened the final movement led to a set of variations with real bite and attack, at whose heart was the gentle cello melody which seemed to encapsulate the joy of the whole.
A splendid evening of exceptional music-making.
One observation to add in passing. When I go the Brighton Philharmonic concerts nobody ever applauds between movements and the coughing is kept well under control. Last night there was applause throughout and coughing was often uncomfortably obvious. Does Brighton really have two different audiences for classical concerts?