The key change at the climax was shattering, the ensuing restoration of calm rather uneasy… a fine Seventh Symphony, continuing Noseda’s impressive Shostakovich cycle.
From the stirrings of the lower strings at the outset of the Finale … and the commanding snapped pizzicatos that followed, there was a collective sense of a gathering resolution, aided by pulses of rhythmic energy and propulsion.
Kazushi Ono... provided the ideal security for orchestral playing and stunning singing to fly... There's never a dull moment with Janáček, the supreme oddball genius.
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The Finale was everything it should be – the noble theme erupting into a frenzy of charged emotions, stoically battling on … Noseda and the LSO went at it with a fervour and volatility that proved devastating.
This was a fearless piece of conducting, Altinoglu daring the musicians to produce the most extreme pianissimi to set against the big tutti... He led [the orchestra] in glorious triumph, with enough firepower kept in reserve for a massive climax.
The Allegro marcato swung along with plenty of insouciance and caustic bite – all superbly balanced and showcasing individual LSO talents to pleasing effect.
Ax and Rattle finished things off with delightful capriciousness in the playful finale, Rattle evidently enjoying Ax’s rippling runs up the keyboard, and the orchestral players also enjoyed the lush, swaying Hungarian Dance tunes, finishing off a joyously affectionate rendition of this huge concerto.
In Tilson Thomas’ hands, the opening of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto had the ominous quality of an opera overture and there was an appropriately vocal quality in the playing of his soloist, Nicola Benedetti.
In Rattle’s hands the divinity in this music comes from string playing that is unashamedly luxurious, dynamically pliant and deeply sensuous; paradise is here, and it is in our ears.
The orchestra was magnificent throughout, with a Queen Mab scherzo of hair-trigger responses as Berlioz’s fabulous orchestration dazzled with kaleidoscopic brilliance.
Walton's First Symphony was superbly played and conducted – as was Colin Matthews' Violin Concerto, with [Leila] Josefowicz as the fiercely committed soloist.
The gossamer strings of the Andante took on a special, consolatory meaning, the LSO strings’ sheen a glory in and of itself. A beautiful, slow outpouring, it includes nevertheless a figure that holds, at first pass, an echo of that grotesque element before its edges are blunted and it is absorbed by the surrounding calm.
Thanks to its vast cast, Amériques isn’t performed that often, even less so in this original version of 1921, and even more rarely with the scintillating flair of the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle.
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