Music
RSNO
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Michael Tumelty
Five Stars
BRAVO. An unequivocal five stars all round on Saturday for a stunning RSNO finale to the winter season. Nothing gives greater pleasure in a musical performance than when the thinking is right: everything else follows. And that was the characteristic of Saturday’s night’s RSNO finale from which so much else flowed.
READ MORE: Theatre Review: Fagin's Twist, Tramway, Glasgow
From the start the omens were good. Lillie Harris’ Remiscipate, inspired by, of all things, the demolition of the infamous Red Road flats, was a stunning conception. Harris, a student in London, eschewed crude literalism and, with dead subtle insight, underplayed “big bang” portraiture, getting beneath the surface clouds of dust and finding a human, expressive element. And it was done so cogently and with such coherence and integrity that no alert ear and mind could have missed the intelligence underpinning the inspiration of the project. What an impressive display of purposeful thinking.
READ MORE: Theatre Review: Fagin's Twist, Tramway, Glasgow
And for all the richness, emotional power, resignation, and the valedictory ache of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs in an eye-watering performance by Norwegian soprano Marita Solberg, bathed in warmth by an RSNO sound at its most rounded, the quality of the performance was enhanced by Peter Oundjian’s dignified pacing and accompaniment which allowed no cloying sentiment.
READ MORE: Theatre Review: Fagin's Twist, Tramway, Glasgow
And that same level of intelligence and structural awareness informed a performance of Beethoven Nine that had pace, drama, breadth and control in equal measure, culminating in a gobsmacking finale with the chorus singing (sensationally) from memory, with enormous impact, and soloists Solberg, mezzo Renata Pokupic, tenor Ben Johnson and bass-baritone Stephan Loges clearly relishing the music. What a fabulous Saturday night and what an atmosphere with the capacity crowd.
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