Music
RSNO Lunchtime Concert, RSNO Centre, Glasgow
Michael Tumelty
Four stars
THE second event in the new auditorium of the RSNO Centre, yesterday lunchtime, was a resounding success. It was the first lunchtime concert for the RSNO, and drew 80 (near-capacity) for the eats, and 200 for the one-work concert. The lunch element was held in the Strathclyde Bar, next to the Suite, sensibly keeping that crowd in a different space to those eating in the hall café: no congestion.
The logistics seemed to work well for that; but my goodness we were all pole-axed in the new auditorium. Of course we met it on that first night, but this was different: no glam launch, no distractions, no presentation except for the amiable little intro by RSNO principal tuba John Whitener; it was down to the hall and the music. And that was Sibelius’s Second Symphony, with the RSNO conducted by Jean-Claude Picard, its associate conductor.
All the good vibes of that first night were confirmed by what we heard in the acoustic, which gave an extraordinary character to the music of Sibelius. There are moments of incredible intimacy in the symphony: the pizzicato bass line in the second movement, and many others. There are passages of enormous mass and density. There are pages where the texture is spare, and others of fierce contrapuntal intensity. And the dynamic range of the symphony is vast.
The hall took the lot, and every nuance within, in the course of Picard’s pacey and flexible interpretation. The RSNO musicians, who must think they’ve gone to acoustical heaven, played out of their skins. The sound in the place was downright phenomenal. No complaints.
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