BBC Phil at Leeds Town Hall
January 28, 2008
The programme commenced with Liszt’s ‘Battle of the Huns’ under the dynamic direction of Gianandrea Noseda with the various sections of the orchestra battling it out for pride of place in this passionate piece. The intermittent organ is interposed with luscious strings and woodwind harmony until the whole ensemble build to a martial finale.
For Elgar’s ‘Cello Concerto’ Paul Watkins’ (pictured) soulful deeply felt cello is echoed in tender strings. This is essentially an elegiac piece but it does kick in with some considerable gusto at times. When the orchestra is pared down to the plaintive cello the work lifts to a higher plane, full of restraint and poise, focused and powerful.
There is a lilting melancholy and brooding sombre nostalgia to the performance with Watkins giving a brilliantly physical and intense performance, his magical bow every moment in line with Noseda’s equally ethereal baton.
It has to be admitted that the Elgar was a pretty hard act to follow but BBC Phil’s take on Rachmaninov’s Symphony No 1 certainly had a jolly good go. From the grand opening the orchestra quietly build up momentum to include tiny moments of extreme dynamism full of shock and aggression.
In this piece, more than ever, Noseda’s exuberant but exacting conducting comes into its own with impeccable timing totally controlling the rhythmic and and lyrical rich textures of the symphony. There are swift transformations of mood, from a marching tempo to more subtle and soft moments. The final ‘Allegro con fuoco’ brings all these disparate elements together into a sublime resolution.
Unsurprisingly, given the evening’s beatific and wondrous prowess, there are some three encores – the very least an audience can manage in the presence of such a powerful performance.
26 January, Leeds Town Hall
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www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/philharmonic/