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Runnicles goes French
Andrew Maisel
Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra have established themselves as one of the leading music making groups in Britain in the two years since he was appointed Chief Music conductor. There have been memorable performance, especially in the central European repertoire, but this programme showed them equally adept in the more subtle shadings of French music. It was a clever move to programme Dutilleux's masterful cello work along with three popular favourites, although the gear change from Tout un monde lointain into Bolero wasn't exactly smooth.
Still, for the most part, most of the performances were excellent. The opening L'apres midi d'un faune was light, airy and as sensuous as one could wish, the music allowed to unfold naturally.The orchestra responded with playing of grace and poetry: Rosemary Eliot's flute solo floating exquisitely on a bed of delicate strings.
In Dutilleux's Tout un monde lointain Lynn Harrell captured the dream like mood and sense of memory with long breathed phrasing and an edge free smoothness of tone. Certainly those used to a more muscular approach (especially in the faster movements) from the likes of Rostropovich (who originally commissioned the piece) may have felt some disappointment. But with solid support from the orchestra and conductor, there was never a feeling of dragging. Harrell's encore, extracts from Bach's 3rd cello suite, felt ill chosen in respect of what had gone before.
The Bolero which followed, sounded, as expected, out of place after the Dutilleux, but to his credit Runicles extracted a credible performance out of the orchestra, setting a steady pulse and keeping the tightest rein over tempi. The temptation to speed up at the end was laudable as were the numerous jazzy orchestral solos.
In the complete Daphnis and Chloe, the orchestra was joined by the Edinburgh Festival Chorus, strong in voice and up to the challenge in the wordless choral interludes. The muted singing in the 1st part 'Interlude' and the unleashing of power into the 'dance guerriere' in the second were nothing short of thrilling. But it was Runnicles and the BBC SSO that carried all before in a performance that not only allowed the music to speak for itself but captured Ravel's delicate scoring of the quieter passages and the Dionysian ecstasy of the primeval dances.
Sumptuous playing from the BBC forces (especially the winds) which continues to surprise with its levels of virtuosity and commitment.
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