Review: Sparkling RSNO at Caird Hall

It started with a work of impish charm and ended with a riotous romp. A strange way to start a review of a Royal Scottish National Orchestra concert, but it’s the only way to describe their latest Caird Hall concert. The impishness came from Shchedrin’s Concerto For Orchestra, subtitled Naughty Limericks, the romp from the finale of Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony.

Shchedrin’s work is truly loopy, peppered with individual solos. Despite being quite percussive with obvious atonal moments, it is also quite melodic. While short in length has much to credit it, with a final unresolved chord that leaves things hanging in the air.

The Shostakovich work is a tale of two halves, changing from melancholy minimalism to energy-driven perpetual motion as if someone had flicked a switch. The broad canvas the composer uses as his template was underlined in the first movement which grew in intensity with every bar before dying away to a faded ember.

Then the entry of a shrill clarinet is a like an electric charge, and the second movement hurtles to a close paving way for a finale that is brimful of life and energy. To compose a movement of such joie de vivre in 1939 Russia illustrates the composer’s desire for the out-of-the-ordinary.

All these attributes Boris Giltburg possesses in abundance, but even then he gave a performance of gigantic dimensions, covering every inch of the keyboard with unbelievable fluency.

Although the whole performance will remain etched in my mind forever, it was in the first movement where Giltburg displayed superhuman tendencies whether it be dashing semiquavers, gigantic chords or simply the ability to switch moods at the drop of a hat. It was quite stupendous.