RSNO Favourites: Peer Gynt and Tchaikovsky 5

This season the RSNO have already brought us some of the most moving and exciting works in the modern repertoire. They certainly choose their programmes wisely, with a mix of well-known classics and what may be forgotten favourites to some. Tonight, they warm many concert-goers at this unforgiving time of year with Tchaikovsky’s epic Fifth symphony and Greig’s iconic Peer Gynt Suite no.1 under the baton of their assistant conductor David Danzmayr, whose exceptional interpretations have ensured his continuing popularity. In addition to these classics, we hear Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex machina, a complex and moving piano concerto played by Terrence Wilson, who premiered this peice.

Peer Gynt makes a fantastic opener with its serenely pastoral opening, contrasting fantastically with the coming symphony. The opening flute solo is particularly expressive and the orchestra bring out the work’s hidden qualities with a fantastically dynamic contrast throughout. Prior to the concerto, Michael Daugherty gives a charismatic introduction to his anticipated work - an amalgamation of countless different qualities - and the colours Wilson achieves give the work even more depth. The orchestra seem to function as one mind throughout, developing a kind of extended question-and-answer with the solo piano. Daugherty encompasses a wide range of genres within the piece, with the ode to a funeral march in the second movement and the jazz-inspired finale. Though this piece doesn’t sit particularly well with the rest of the programme, it is well worth a listen.

Tchaikovsky’s Fifth symphony never fails to make an impact, despite the sombre qualities of its beginning. The work gradually gathers pace throughout in preparation for the growing intensity of the fourth movement; the solos lift above the orchestral textures throughout and wind interact particularly well with each other. The strings bring out each of the layers with equal clarity and the brass never fail to hit us with what must have been the impact intended by the composer, fortified by the powerful timpani rolls which close the work. Danzmayr lived up to all expectations, his inherent connection with the orchestra was consistently noticeable and he has surely brought tonight’s works to the attention of many new listeners. Indeed, they may just have given us a remedy for the hard times we go through in the depths of winter.