AS STÉPHANE Denève said in his opening comments to Saturday's RSNO concert, the bulk of this Beethoven-Strauss twin-header contained works that explicitly told a story, either by their operatic connections, or simply programmatically.
It was the
exception – Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 2 – that shone above everything else and elicited the most intense and exciting drama. A compelling partnership of Denève and pianist Paul Lewis gave a performance that extended our traditional view of this work as a relatively straightforward showcase for the soloist by a young Beethoven to a realisation that the overall concept is a much cleverer, more subtle, interplay of themes and textures.
The evidence lay in a rare and sensitive display of shared vision, in which Lewis led the debate with clearly articulated thoughts to which Denève reacted to with utter empathy and constructive individuality. With such productive ambiguity came a performance laced with a compelling, seductively unpredictable edge.
In the same composer's Leonore No 3 overture, Denève was the sole master of ceremonies, guiding the RSNO through the music's emotional swings with brilliantly measured flamboyance and blistering heat. So often this work is rolled out as a convenient programme filler. In this case, its exceptional merit was well and truly proven.
Richard Strauss's joyful Rosenkavalier suite and his symphonic poem Till Eulenspiegel provided an opulent foil to the brow-furrowed Beethoven, their sugar-coated textures heaving with excitement, the latter capturing every mischievous twist of the hero's pranks.
This season is showing the Denève / RSNO partnership to be moving into overdrive. Exciting times ahead.
The full article contains 276 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
