Conductor Frank Strobel and a tireless London Symphony Orchestra not only manage feats of near-perfect synchronisation as they illustrate factory whistles with chord-cluster woodwind, marching troops with bow-slapping basses and the tearing-up of railway tracks with anvils; they also pull off the difficult job of keeping a steely clarity in the near-relentless thrashes which sometimes made you wish ear-plugs had been offered at the doors.
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Indeed, the definition in the woodwind was one of the highlights of the performance, the interplay between the instruments clearly defined and outstandingly highlighted, with some beautifully clear playing from the flutes.
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the London Symphony Orchestra played Brahms’s Symphony No 2 in D with utmost clarity, musical components fitting one to another with perfect ease and delicacy. You could hear precisely how the work was assembled, how one melodic or harmonic idea related to another, passed between strings and woodwind, timpani or brass. Transparent isn’t a word usually applied to Brahms. It should be. Haitink showed the way.
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Throughout, Ax played with true musical distinction, full of deep concentration and vitality, the artistry of this pianist fully matched by that of conductor and orchestra. A memorable concert indeed, of great integrity and depth throughout: no other music was necessary.
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Haitink – the master of seeming to do very little yet conjuring so much, the LSO playing like angels (attentive to the smallest detail and to varieties of dynamics) – led a Brahms 2 of notable integrity
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From the susurrations of timpani and cymbals, and the nocturnal sigh of glissandi strings, to the bare-faced cheek of the bassoon figures, the crowing clarinet and the boyish spiccato of the solo part, this was an immaculately disciplined, brilliantly animated reading.
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The young German violinist Veronika Eberle showed her spurs right from those passionate opening notes. The music flowed with a natural ease, while her colours and dynamics constantly mutated, sometimes bar by bar.
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Bychkov whipped up the remarkable LSO – especially the horns – to a resounding and affirmative conclusion. For a fleeting moment, I wondered if they would all finish together: I should never have doubted that they would and conductor and orchestra thoroughly deserved the audience’s acclaim.
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Haitink drew playing from the LSO of matchless luminosity. From here conductor and players (woodwind were superb) found the lightness of touch that can often elude performances of Brahms.
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The skill with which Bychkov turned the second movement into a spectral wake made the opening diptych especially resonant.
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The beautiful B major second movement found soloist and conductor in total harmony, Ax bringing a pianistic translucence anticipating the Nocturnes of Chopin. Throughout this movement Haitink achieved a wonderful sotto voce with muted strings and beautiful cantabile woodwinds.
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[Bychkov's] approach to the finale, as Mahler moves from tragedy to triumph, was one of fierce industry, leading to a jubilant conclusion to a terrific concert.
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