Festival Music
BBC SSO
Usher Hall
Keith Bruce
four stars
FOR the first of its three appearances in this year's Festival concert series at the Usher Hall, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra's visit with newish chief conductor Thomas Dausgaard looked like a relatively conventional concert of Schubert, Schumann and Strauss – but what an interesting musical story the players, piano soloist Sergei Babayan and the man on the podium told. And what a feast of top tunes.
Although Schumann's Piano Concerto in A Major was first played twenty years before Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony No 8 saw the light of day, they are works of different eras, and Dausgaard's light chamber approach to the symphony, which opened the concert, was clearly designed to show that. The most delicate sound on the strings introduced the oboe of Stella McCracken (who was to have a busy evening) and clarinet of Yann Ghiro, and that lightness of touch was maintained throughout, except when the conductor called on the chordal muscle of a symphony orchestra. Given the music waiting after the interval, this was a demonstration of versatility being stated from the off.
On the concerto, Dausgaard was happy to let Babayan dictate some of the tempi with his wonderfully articulate and precise playing. The pianist was clearly pacing himself too, holding power in reserve to unleash to winning effect in the Allegro Vivace finale. The richer sound of the orchestra, meanwhile, was a natural stepping stone to the mighty fin de siecle masterpiece Also sprach Zarathustra, which calls for stage-filling forces, and began with Michael Bawtree adding resonant pedal notes to its famous opening theme from the mighty Usher Hall organ.
A visual as well as a sonic spectacle as melodies bounce between sections and soloists (notably leader Laura Samuel), there are few better showcases for an orchestra as full of talented individuals as well as ensemble strength as the SSO.
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