Festival Music

Russian National Orchestra

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Keith Bruce

four stars

CHANCES to hear a performance of Tchaikovsky's Second Symphony, the so-called "Little Russian", are relatively rare at all, so the opportunity to hear it played by the Russian National Orchestra under the baton of rising Ukrainian star conductor Kirill Karabits, chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and one of Nicola Benedetti's favourite collaborators, was one to savour. It is indeed very Ukranian, filled with folk melodies, and sounded so here. All of the players in the large version of the orchestra had a great deal to do, but all that gainful employment was under the very firm control of Karabits, particularly in the rousing finale, which seems to do climactic finale-type things for its entire duration. What was always audible was the thoroughly integrated sound of the orchestra, not just in the strings, although their playing was very fine indeed, but across all the sections.

That was also true of the opening piece, Mussorgsky's The Fair at Sorochintsy, another relative rarity; the compact, precise and sharp-edged sound immediately apparent. With the ensemble reduced to chamber band proportions for Mozart's Piano Concerto No25 we were in different territory altogether, and it seemed to take a while for the communication between soloist Paul Lewis (replacing Mikhail Pletnev, who had scheduled Concerto No24) and the orchestra to gel. But it is a piece that gives the orchestra a good share of the limelight, especially with the familiar 8-bar melody in the closing Allegretto that is one the composer's best-known tunes. Principal flute Maxim Rubtsov shone on the slow movement, and Lewis played with the cool authority that is his trademark.