Last night’s programme was as surprising as it was complementary – like champagne with fish and chips! Shostakovich and Haydn might make odd bedfellows on paper but there is more than just a touch of tongue-in-cheek humour to both the Russian’s Ninth Symphony and the Austrian’s Symphony no. 96. A deftness of touch is inherent in all of Ravel’s music and here too, in both his piano concerto in G major and Le Tombeau de Couperin there was that subtle Gallic irony lurking beneath the music’s surface. The programme was immensely suited to the theatricals of Japanese conductor Eiji Oue who, with the insight and perfect timing of a thespian, delivered a rollicking interpretation of all pieces.
Bubbling over with good humour and liveliness, the smiling presence of Oue from the podium immediately evoked a sunny mood for the opening allegro of Haydn’s “Miracle” Symphony. The NSO responded with great energy to the demonstrative conducting of Oue, whose diminutive frame darted about, eliciting a fresh, vibrant sound from the orchestra, inspiring each member to communicate with one another as if it were a chamber group. The bassoons chuckled, the oboe trilled and the violins clearly depicted their stormy fugal lines in the Andante. This airy mood gave way to the more rustic charms of the Minuet where oboist Matthew Manning charmed with his melody. The finale meandered cheerfully on, humour lurking behind every phrase and syncopated off beats. The dip into the tonic minor was suitably mock-dramatic before the woodwinds carolled us back to D major, while the leader of the orchestra, Elaine Clark’s solo was delivered with pin point accuracy before the symphony came to a flourishing conclusion.
Pianist David Fray was the yang to Oue’s yin. As pensive and serious as the conductor was extroverted and light-hearted, Fray produced a captivating sound that was muscular in the more mechanical moments and deeply spiritual in the work’s lyrical sections. This was not a sentimental, jocose interpretation but one filled with seriousness of intent so that even the improvisatory jazz sections in the first movement had a thoughtfulness to it that was quite arresting in its novelty. Sitting back in his chair, Fray gave both conductor and orchestra brief, infrequent glances, and yet I was deeply impressed at how intently he matched his sound to theirs. He displayed an enchanting delicacy in spinning his gossamer melodic thread amidst the melting harmonies of the left hand arpeggios and trills in the right only to have it snapped off with the biting rhythms in the growling lower registers of the piano.