The London Symphony Orchestra’s (LSO) new chief conductor Sir Antonio Pappano has begun his reign in grand style with not one, but four, Season Opening concerts. All the great composers were featured across the concerts giving Pappano plenty of opportunity to showcase his deep sense of drama and command of the repertoire. An impressive theatricality imbues his conducting as well as his programming choices.
Concert 4 featured two absolute masterworks in Chopin’s dazzling Second Piano Concerto and Mahler’s thundering First Symphony. As if that wasn’t enough, Pappano treated us to a little appetiser of the Concert Overture by Polish composer Karol Szymanowski to complete the traditional concert format of overture, symphony and concerto.
The overture is a vivid and lively work full of crashing cymbals and vigorous percussion, rampaging brass and swooning woodwinds. It may only be 13 minutes long, but there is an awful lot going on with all sections of the full orchestra galloping along.
After some considerable rearrangement on stage, the LSO was joined by guest pianist Yuja Wang for her second appearance in the Opening Season. Playing with absolute focus and little ornamentation, Wang made the fiendishly demanding Chopin look simple. It is easy to see why she is considered one of the greatest living pianists with her immense agility, technical precision and often delicate pianism. Showing little emotion, but clearly happy with her performance, Wang treated the enraptured audience to three mini encores.
Gustav Mahler’s immense Symphony No 1 in D major filled the entire second half of the program. Each of the four movements has its own distinct character, creating a musical narrative full of bold orchestral colours and unexpected flourishes. Hints of many different influences can be heard throughout with touches of traditional klezmer music (perhaps as a nod to his Jewish heritage), twittering birds of the forest and even the chorus of the popular ‘Frère Jacques’ nursery song. There was a peculiar moment when three of the players came on stage to take their seats well into the piece, something I’ve never seen happen before.
There was drama here aplenty and Pappano seemed to grow in stature as he led with great sweeping gestures and tremendous gusto. The tempestuous finale, described as ‘stürmisch bewegt’ (stormy), was overwhelming in its passion and intensity, especially when the eight horn players all rose to their feet for their big moment – theatrical indeed!
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This was a lively and thrilling concert to conclude the Opening Season; it was also a rousing farewell to the Orchestra as it heads off for a lengthy overseas tour including Japan, South Korea and China.
London Symphony Orchestra Season Opening Concerts were performed on 11, 12, 15 and 19 September at the Barbican. Concert 4: Szymanowski, Chopin and Mahler, was performed on 19 September 2024.
