RSNO

Posted by Jamie Munn on Monday 15 November 2010

The RSNO has already begun to slowly spin the wheels of what is bound to be a period of major change. Principal Conductor Stéphane Denève has already announced his departure from the orchestra for the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra in September of next year, and ensemble is still in the midst of the lengthy process of finding a second ‘co-leader’ to complement James Clark, the part-time concertmaster who moved from the RLPO to replace Edwin Paling who retired in 2007. Chief Executive, Simon Woods, then announced last week that he was leaving Glasgow for Seattle, so the orchestra will certainly be in a state of flux over the next year or so; a year in which ever-threatening budget cuts also loom on the horizon. Woods has vowed to find a replacement for Denève in his last six months, and considering his successful tenure so far, he no doubt will.

The RSNO and Denève are certainly no strangers to Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, indeed they have performed it several times together. It is probably Berlioz’s best known work, and almost acts as a show-horse for the attributes that he has become known for; orchestral innovation in both the instruments and their use, and the employment of idée fixe (or leitmotif) in his music. It has been suggested that the music was inspired by certain autobiographical accounts in Berlioz’s life, or also that it is his ‘Faust’ symphony. In any case, Berlioz coerces the listener into conjuring up certain images as the music is being played with the titles (Reveries, Passions; A Ball; Scene in the Country; March to the Scaffold; Dream of Witches Sabbath), and the extensive programme notes that Berlioz prepared himself.

This performance was a ‘new’, perhaps experimental interpretation from Denève, and there were certainly some superbly exciting moments, and some of those exciting moments even extended into entire sections! The March to the Scaffold and Dream of a Witches’ Sabbath with its blazing brass parodying the Dies Irae, and the subtle timbres of the four timpani players in Scene in the Country brought out so much detail. There were some unexpected trip-ups from some of the soloists, but nothing to bother about for more than a fleeting moment. The performance was probably not to the liking of purists, but there is little chance of indifference, and the immediate cheer from the audience can testify to that.

Virga by Helen Grimes is one of the RSNO’ s Ten out of 10 series, which aims to turn around the orchestra’s sometimes questionable record of performing new music, and open up the sometimes stuffy RSNO audiences to new ideas and sound-worlds. Denève, in his inimitable style, gave an extended introduction to the piece along with Grimes, and there is certainly a lot packed into six short minutes of music. ‘There are a lot of notes’, as Grimes said. There were some interesting and effective analogies in the music, and Virga is certainly not be a piece that will just be played once or twice, never to be heard of again.

The real highlight, however, was Frank Peter Zimmerman’s playing of Syzmanowski’s second violin concerto. Zimmerman makes a ravishing sound and is a very compelling performer to watch – intensive, but paradoxically soothing. His short encore had the audience rapt.

JM

Tags: City Centre, Classical