I WILL probably be hanged if I don't have a good-old rave-up about the phenomenal concert given on Thursday by the BBC SSO and conductor Ilan Volkov.
Rest easy: I propose nothing less. Part of the SSO's Muzyka Polska season, the programme, in design, presentation and execution, represented one of the most joined-up exercises in intellectual strategy anywhere in the current concert season.
But that's not the amazing thing. What is amazing is the way the whole lot, in all its diversity, came blazing off the page as a single, multi-faceted musical experience. We had early Lutoslawski, in his electrifying, sensational and inexplicably underplayed Concerto For Orchestra, a display piece if ever there was one (at least as effective as Bartok's Concerto For Orchestra). And we had late, mature Lutoslawski in his Fourth Symphony, ripe with breathtaking originality, from the static, atmosphere-drenched sound world of its opening to its triple-time, swaying rhythms, its layers of emotional intensity, its multiple dissolves and its volcanic close that exploded with the fury of its own energy.
In and around these works, Ukranian soprano Olga Pasichynk, in molten voice, gave seductively alluring and exquisitely exotic performances of Szymanowski's cycles, Songs Of An Infatuated Muezzin and Songs Of A Fairy-tale Princess, which revealed the composer in relatively aphoristic terms, though still with ravishing orchestration, which threatened to morph into Ravel on occasion.
But, in performance terms, with Volkov in rivetingly incisive form, and the band playing like there was no tomorrow, this was a programme designed for the SSO and built for Volkov's unique abilities in this field. No other team I know could have done this with such colossal effectiveness. A very good night for Poland.
HHHHH
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