PERCUSSIVE power dominated the Royal SNO's superbly planned concert on Saturday night. From the clattering of MacMillan to the thunder of Nielsen, it was a drummer's night.
There was a double interest in the latest performance of James MacMillan's stunning percussion concerto, Veni, Veni Emmanuel. For a start, the role associated with Evelyn Glennie was taken over by Scotland's latest wizard, Colin Currie, 20 this year, and a consummate performer. Currie, playing from memory, brought a fresh interpretation to the work.
Less concerned than Glennie with theatricality, he lifted a veil on the light, dancing qualities of the music, playing with dazzling clarity and a laid back quality that emphasised the jazzy rhythms in appropriate sections of the music. Less concerned, too, with pure ritual, Currie kept the music moving through its time-stopping slow section: less intense, more fluidity. Different, but it worked.
And the other interest lay in the RSNO's interpretation, conducted by Paul Daniel, which clarified the texture of the piece more than any of the other Scottish orchestra performances to date (including the CD version). The entire piece - every note, every motive - is built on the hymn tune of the title. And the source has never been more clearly audible. Simple as that.
The same sort of clarity emphasised the conflict and tension at the heart of Nielsen's great Fourth Symphony, epitomised in its finale (with a wonderful duel between timpanists Martin Gibson and Alan Emslie) but running right through the piece. Compelling performance. As were the accounts of the two Sibelius tone poems buttressing the big works - the Swan of Tuonela and Lemminkainen's Return, respectively haunting and seething on Saturday night.
Opera
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