BBC SSO, City Halls, Glasgow

Arts Editor

Monday 23 January 2012

Even in his bicentenary year I do not recall that we were swamped with performances of Robert Schumann's cello concerto, nor was young Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid's recording of the piece joined by a myriad others.

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keith bruce

The instrument's repertoire is not so large that the more often played works of Dvorak and Elgar couldn't use the competition, so its rarity is mystifying. It has a fine champion in Brantelid, with his gloriously toned 17th century instrument, best heard on the melodious central movement with SSO principal cello Martin Storey supplying harmonies over the pizzicato strings accompaniment.

The concert was otherwise a showcase for the orchestra's artist-in-association Matthias Pintscher, who conducted and whose Ex-Nihilo received its world premiere, but there was plenty of opportunity for others to shine. That work was in some ways a single movement concerto for the contrabass clarinet of Alan Andrews, but it kept everyone on stage and in the auditorium focused for its 12 minutes. It would have been interesting to hear it lead into the Third Symphony of Brahms, as a response to which it was commissioned, but for that the SSO had to expand to full symphony strength for an account that Pintscher kept rhythmically rigorous while revelling in its lush tunes.Introducing his own work, the composer had spoken warmly of the flexibility of the SSO musicians and this programme might have been designed to show off just that, from the light chamber strings of Mendelssohn to the mature Brahms, as well as the new work. It was a big clarinet night too, with principal Yann Ghiro and Simon Butterworth sharing the limelight.HHHH

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BBC SSO, City Halls, Glasgow

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