Fifty years at the forefront of classical music is no small boast, but Vladimir Ashkenazy can make it, and then add that he has done so both as a pianist and as a conductor, a feat few others can claim. To celebrate such an anniversary would require a special concert indeed. Playing to a hall absolutely rammed to the rafters with eager punters, the Philharmonia Orchestra and Ashkenazy gave us what might be the most rousing tune to hail from Finland’s greatest composer and two of the finest pieces of Russian classical music ever created.
Tiny, but spry and possessed of seemingly boundless energy, Ashkenazy kicked things off with a barnstorming rendition of Jean Sibelius’s Finlandia. The brass section built up from the ominous introduction to a quick, heroic theme that combines with soaring and falling trills from the strings to evoke images of dogfighting planes in some dashing World War II movie about fighter aces. This is music so exciting it was used in a Die Hard movie. It gave way to the beautiful hymn-like middle before crashing back for the rousing finale.
The second piece saw the orchestra joined by Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at the piano for Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2. The almost funereal opening on the piano gave way to the sudden outpouring of emotion in the sweeping romance of the first movement’s main theme. At times the soloist seemed almost swamped by the sheer strength of feeling from the orchestra, but Bavouzet’s playing rose to match it. Obviously enjoying himself tremendously, Ashkenazy held the baton between his teeth like a swashbuckling pirate for one final bow before the interval.
The final piece was Tchaikovsky’s finest symphony, the 5th, and here the orchestra had saved the best until last. The second movement was particularly fine; the wonderful horn tune answered by the oboe and clarinet to create a genuinely touching moment amongst the tempest of emotions the symphony depicts. The waltz of the third movement was superbly executed, before a thrilling, supremely confident performance of the finale. Ashkenazy, one hand on the rail of the rostrum like a man trying to steady himself on a ship in stormy waters, bought the orchestra home during the climax with great aplomb.
The After Hours performance for the couple of hundred souls who stayed behind after the concert featured east-west fusion group Tafahum: the brainchild of the British Benjamin Ellin and the Syrian Louai Alhenawi. Over four pieces Middle Eastern flavours vied with Celtic themes, folk tunes and classical training to produce something entirely different. One gleaming silver instrument (a contrabrass flute) that looked like something an alien priest would point threateningly at Doctor Who lent an air of otherworldliness to the eclectic but surprisingly accessible programme. The final piece, Crossing Green, was memorably described by Ellin as Arabic meets Lancashire. From Finland to Russia to the Middle East and the exotic climes of the North West. Not bad for a Wednesday night in Nottingham.
Philarmonia Orchestra Gala Concert played on Wednesday 30 April as part of the Nottingham Classics season at the Royal Concert Hall
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