Music review: RSNO & Sir Andrew Davis, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO dressed in the blue and yellow of Ukraine

This performance from Sir Andrew Davis and the RSNO was full of reminders of the Russian attack on Ukraine, writes Ken Walton

RSNO & Sir Andrew Davis, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall ****

One of the critical factors in defining a truly successful concert is for the artists to create an instant and decisive connection with the audience. Even before a note was struck on Saturday, that connection had been made by the RSNO players, and it wasn’t a musical one.

Attired in yellow and blue T-shirts, and with the Ukrainian colours projected prominently above the stage, the message of concern was clear. In his introductory remarks (now a regular feature in RSNO concerts, presented each week by a different player), principal horn Christopher Gough expressed it in words that drew spontaneous applause. That he went on to demonstrate his latent prowess as a stand-up comedian perversely strengthened the warmth of the sentiment.

It also paved the way for a highly engaging programme, an assuring assortment of English music under the authoritative baton of Sir Andrew Davies, which began (for the second week running) with music by one of RSNO’s recent Composers’ Hub Winners.

This was Jasper Dommett’s Dreams Of Isolation, a musing on the transformative power of dreams, which he transforms into a thoughtful, intense orchestral sketch. Davies engineered its soulfulness, its languid lyricism and the crystalline gestures that generate an impressive climax, with judicious precision.

There was overriding discipline, too, in his approach to Elgar’s Enigma Variations. The tautness of the performance was, in itself, sturdy and exhilarating, softened by moments of gentle rhythmic elasticity, a balance that gave especial meaning to the beautiful Nimrod variation, and in the brief silence that followed it, another momentary reminder of the Ukrainian crisis.

Vaughan Williams’ Sinfonia Antartica was no less moving, crowned by the vocalising female RCS Voices and angelic soloist Katie Coventry, perched high in the choir stalls. It was a triumph of solemnity, awe and battle against the odds.

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