Live reviews

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

****

ALTHOUGH it would be a very Joseph Haydn thing to do, the composer did not intend the opening orchestral chord of his oratorio The Creation to evoke The Big Bang, a scientific proposal well over a century in the future.

When it was preceded by the first of three new poems commissioned by the RSNO from Holly McNish, however, and read by her from a lectern beyond the French horns, that is exactly what happened on Sunday afternoon.

As part of its artistic contribution to Glasgow’s hosting of COP26 next month, the orchestra had McNish precede the three parts of Haydn’s response to the Biblical version of the beginnings of our world with a more contemporary gloss. Perhaps purists would sniff, but it worked for me, and possibly some of the younger members of the audience as well.

McNish’s “Chaos” prefaced Haydn’s instrumental evocation of that, before bass-baritone Neal Davies atmospherically intoned the first words of Genesis, joined seconds later by the RSNO Chorus, sat – socially distanced like the audience – in the choir stalls above the soloists and players.

With their director, Gregory Batsleer, on the podium, it was the choir – and their return to public singing – that this was chiefly about. Ahead of the start of the orchestra’s new season, here was a statement of intent that the musical activity most contentiously prohibited during the pandemic was back.

It would have been enough that the RSNO Chorus performed Haydn’s 1799 masterpiece at all, but what we got was a sparkling reading of the work, of which the choir – on remarkable dynamic form after such a long layoff – was just a part.

Davies and his fellow soloists were also vibrant and vital presences, save for a slight lapse in concentration by soprano Anna Dennis in the final section. Their voices made a strong impact individually, and combined well together, with tenor Andrew Staples quite outstanding. He in seemed committed to an operatic narrative style as the archangel Uriel. While natural trumpets and basic kettle-drums were the only technical evidence on stage, there was a baroque band sound from the orchestra under Batsleer, with fine continuo playing by Jan Waterfield at the harpsichord and guest first cello Caroline Dale. That approach meant that the humour in Haydn’s score emerged naturally, with contrabassoonist Paolo Dutto having the best punchline.

City Halls, Glasgow Keith Bruce ****

THERE is no hanging about with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s ebullient young Russian Maxim Emelyanychev.

The orchestra’s chief executive Gavin Reid had not really finished his words of welcome to the SCO’s Glasgow audience, after more than a year and half of separation, when the conductor bounded onstage with soloist Lukas Geniusas and launched the orchestra into Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.5.

The work is known, somewhat mysteriously, as the “Emperor” concerto, but there was nothing imperious about Emelyanychev.

Rather it is just his irrepressible approach to getting on with the job, an infectious enthusiasm that won many admirers when he and the orchestra tore through Mozart’s late symphonies at the BBC Proms in London’s Royal Albert Hall during the summer.

A fine keyboard player himself, his introduction of the Russian-Lithuanian Geniusas to Scottish audiences marks the pianist as one to watch.

The two men certainly shared an approach to the work – big, bold and brash at times, but also lyrical rather than especially speedy.

The soloist was fast-fingered, but always unhurried, and with a deal of character in the Adagio slow movement and the skipping figures of the finale.

Emelyanychev brought out revealing details in the phrasing of the strings, bolstered to 30 players, with five cellos and three basses high at the back of the platform, whose contribution was distinctly audible.

Perhaps the transition into the third movement was a little mannered in the conductor’s baton-less hands, but there were always details of the score, like the soloist’s dialogue with timpanist Louise Goodwin near the end, that rewarded close listening.

It is also debatable just how “Scottish” is Mendelssohn’s Third Symphony, finally completed years after the composer’s inspirational tour of the country.

On Friday, however, the blustery weather effects in the opening movement seemed only too apt.

The strings, led by Maria Wloszczowska, were superb there, and Emelyanychev also had them play very quietly indeed at points. It was that dynamic range that distinguished this “Scottish”, alongside the superb solo clarinet of the ever-dependable Maximiliano Martin.