Footstomping music at the Royal Concert Hall

For a composer whose work was not featured in Sinfonia Viva’s blistering Nottingham Classics concert, the spirit of Joseph Haydn loomed large at the Royal Concert Hall. The opening piece, Fanny Mendelssohn’s Overture in C, was transformed by the orchestra and their dynamic conductor Delyana Lazarova from a slightly by-the-numbers composition lacking any real character into a brisk, upbeat Haydnesque delight, full of verve and wit.

Mozart’s Violin Concerto No 4 received a similar upgrade. A lesser piece in the Mozart canon (the Fifth Violin Concerto effortlessly outshines it), Lazarova emphasised the Haydn-like ornamentations, delivering an opening movement with plenty of bounce and energy, then steered her orchestra through middle and concluding movements which can sometimes sound listless, even soporific, keeping everything tightly together and the audience’s interest engaged.

To this end, she was ably assisted by violinist Hana Chang, whose ethereal stage presence and zen-like focus chimed with the audience. Sustained applause and foot-stomping accompanied her as she left the stage.

The second half kicked off with Caroline Shaw’s 2011 composition Entr’acte, a piece inspired by the transition from trio to minuet in Haydn’s String Quartet in F, Opus 77 No 2. Written for string quartet and here presented in an arrangement for string orchestra, Entr’acte unfolds across two short movements. The first translates Haydn to a more contemporary compositional idiom, while the second is something of an exercise in deconstruction. Perhaps too beholden to minimalism and sketchy in its development to be truly Haydnesque, it was nonetheless received warmly - an unexpected palate-cleanser before the real business of Beethoven’s Symphony No 8.

Generally regarded as a playful throwback between the terpsichorean vigour of the Seventh and the vast, transcendental canvas of the Ninth, it is the most Haydnesque of Beethoven’s symphonies and many performances play up the courtliness and good humour. There is another approach, however (Riccardo Chailly and the  Gewandhaus Orchestra’s recording on Decca is an excellent example), which is more forceful and uses swifter tempi, retaining the high-spirited qualities but nudging up the intensity; this remains, after all, a work by Beethoven.

Lazarova took the latter path and what followed was as pacy and exciting as it gets. Her conducting style, sprightly and demonstrative throughout the concert, now incorporated a degree of attack. Sinfonia Viva responded with drive and enthusiasm, their warm and burnished sound balancing urgency and a real sense of joie de vivre.

A stunningly successful concert, then, and any return engagement by Sinfonia Viva and Delyana Lazarova is to be welcomed. I’d love to see them deliver an all-Haydn programme.

Sinfonia Viva performed at the Royal Concert Hall on Friday 7th or March 2025.