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suited the piece, though at first the signs were not good with the
violinist overcooking the vibrato on the rich opening theme, and parting
company with the orchestra on more than one rallentando.
This was soon evened out, helped by Vassily Sinaisky's
sympathetic pointing and shaping of the accompaniment, and as Little
settled she secured a more lyrical turn of phrase. The cadenza in
particular was spot on, the lead in to the finale atmospherically weighted
by the strings, the folksy themes then played with evident affection. The
odd tuning issue aside, Little was a strong advocate of this sunny, tuneful
piece.
The mood darkened after the interval as Sinaisky put together a
stunningly-played and striking account of Shostakovich's wartime
masterpiece, better still than Bernard Haitink's performance with
the London Symphony Orchestra last year. A broadly expansive first movement
increasingly tightened its grip on proceedings, pointed all the while
towards the naked fortissimo (in this performance carrying all before it);
the ensuing desolation was profoundly moving.
The two 'scherzo' movements were driven but not rushed, the march-waltz
conflict of the second movement nicely caught and the cutting edge of the
splintered third movement chords was exposed. As the shrill wind phrases rained
down the head-on impact of the passacaglia was shattering, with the
resulting bass ostinato empty in response. Sinaisky judged the move to C
major for the last movement expertly, posing the question of just how
comfortable (or not) this supposed resolution might be.
This was a performance with many fine individual contributions -
Gillian Callow's cor anglais, the bass clarinet of Philip
Jones and Rachel Chatwin's piccolo stood out in particular - but
Sinaisky had the whole ensemble so well drilled and involved there was
simply not a weak link.
The opening overture to Rimsky-Korsakov's The Maid of Pskov was
no trifle either, and gave a hint of the joys to come in nicely pointed,
affectionate solos for clarinet and horn, along with the unusual harmonic
language of the opening, well treated by the conductor.
Another reason to envy Mancunian concert-goers - not only do they have
the Hallé, but the BBC's northerly orchestra is also on
scintillating form.
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