Music
RSNO
Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
Keith Bruce, four stars
THIRTY years ago, when the RSNO recorded all the Tone Poems of Richard Strauss under Neemi Jarvi for Chandos, the pop charts included the passing phenomenon of the mega-mix, but that bundling together of hit themes in one package had already been explored by the composer at the climax of the last of those works, Ein Heldenleben, in which he refers to all those that he’d previously written.
Whether you regard the piece as a sincere self-portrait or the product of a monstrous ego, it is an opportunity to hear a huge orchestra at full-stretch that should not be missed and deserved fewer empty seats in the auditorium that there were on Saturday. Indeed, as well as the joy of its scale – off-stage brass, a brace of harps and tenor tuba shadowing its big brother and all – there are delights in its details. Here was a rare chance to hear orchestra leader Maya Iwabuchi on absolutely stunning solo form that was well worth the ticket price alone.
The work is also being recorded for a new disc, which is an important statement of intent from incoming music director Thomas Sondergard about the major works he intends to tackle. As was his mode of address to the audience at the start of the concert; both his predecessors at the head of the RSNO have been good communicators but I fancy that there will be something more personal about the rapport Sondergard seeks to establish with concertgoers.
He was introducing South Korean soloist Sunwook Kim, who gave a beautifully nuanced account of the Piano Concerti No 2 of Johannes Brahms, a work surely no less personal than the Strauss. An extended love letter to Clara Schumann, at least in its central movements, principal cello Aleksei Kiseliov took his chance to demonstrate exquisite solo playing.
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 here