Usher Hall, Edinburgh
Four stars
Here surely was a prime illustration of why Canadian conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin is such an admired talent among the younger names on the international concert platform. The Philadelphia's new man took the opening bars of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony - the most rhythmic feast of melody in the great composer's symphonic canon - at such a leisurely pace, it might have sound-tracked the final exhausted moments of a dance marathon.
But that restrained intro to the flute's entry and the first big tune of the Seventh's feast was, with hindsight, the only way to begin building to the searing climax of the finale that had many in the Usher Hall on their feet and a parade of bows and acknowledgements of the work of individual players and sections of the orchestra that continued for many minutes.
With local man William Conway at the head of the cellos, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe may be a collection of virtuosi, but it is not a big band. Yet the largest symphony orchestra could not have produced as more dynamic account of the Seventh that the COE did for Nezet-Seguin.
The first half of the concert was a cooler affair, but showcased that virtuosity, with two
double concertos (in all but name) with soloists drawn from the ranks. Strauss's late Duett-Concertino featured clarinettist Romain Guyot and bassoonist Matthew Wilkie and came alive in its firier passages, while Mozart's Sinfonia concertante in E flat major teamed orchestra leader Lorenza Borrani with gloriously sonorous tone of principal viola Pascal Siffert.
Although hardly his best-known tune, the Andante second movement is Mozart at his melodic best, here given beautful expression by the duo.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article