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Donald Runnicles and BBC SSO concert

09/10/2009

City Halls, Glasgow
City Halls, Glasgow
Thursday, October 8
4/5
 
Tonight is a night of firsts at City Halls. It is the first concert of the BBC Symphony Orchestra's 2009/2010 season; the first concert by the orchestra's newly-appointed chief conductor Donald Runnicles on his return from a successful spell in America; the programme consists of the first symphonies by the two titans of Austrian and German music.

The concert features the work of Beethoven, who revolutionised classical music by moving from the rational elegance of earlier Romantic music to a form that enabled the composer to express more directly his own feelings and emotions, and Mahler, who created a new sound full of personal angst and existential doubt.
 
Even stripped of its historical significance, Beethoven's 'Symphony No.1',although lacking the bravura passages and emotional depth of his later works, remains an interesting and engaging piece. It is elegant and graceful but only in the menuetto, with its wonderful rhythms seemingly conjured magically out of thin air and the jokey finale letting his originality and genius shine through. The orchestra play with freshness and vigour throughout, with close attention to the clearly-defined textures and instrumental combinations. A satisfying and enjoyable start to the evening.
 
The Seven Early Songs by Berg, sung by the American soprano Heidi Melton, are a not insubstantial filler between the two main works. To these ears, these pieces have always seemed unexceptional. Melton sings with control and authority but her full-throated approach lacks the subtlety and individuality to raise these works out of the ordinary. The audience, however, receive her rapturously.
 
The opening bars of Mahler's first symphony are played with beautiful control, and so quietly that the audience strains to hear them usher in a new world – one of contrasts, anguish, doubts, exhilaration and philosophic enquiry. This still sounds like a genuinely revolutionary work and contains the essence of Mahler – lush, romantic harmonies; soft, feathery strings and powerful brass. Apart from some slight insecurity in the woodwinds and a tendency to rush the climaxes in the first movement, the band rises to the occasion. The slow martial march, based on 'Frere Jacques', is wonderfully played with beautiful control of tempo and lustrous woodwinds, and in the finale, with its surging, powerful climaxes, the band punches above its weight with the horns in magnificent form. The audience is on its feet, stamping and applauding for several minutes.
 
A notable beginning for Runnicles and a great appetiser for the concerts to come.
 
Alex Graham
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