In a football-mad city like Liverpool, ‘dream team’ can become an overused term. It’s even found its way into the culture of the Liverpool Philharmonic when the opening night of the current season featured the ‘dream team’ of conductor Domingo Hindoyan and trumpeter Pacho Flores. But after Hindoyan’s latest performance with the RLPO, there’s yet another dream team in the making.
Hindoyan’s interpretation of Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto with Sir Stephen Hough was a tour de force which drew fully justified rapturous applause. Hough is something of a Liverpool legend. He hails from Heswall, an ‘over-the-water’ – for which read across the Mersey – town barely ten miles from the city centre and his homecoming always means there’s something good on the musical menu. For this musical feast, it was one of the lesser-known of Rachmaninov’s four piano concertos and, therefore, something to savour.
The first movement showed an infectious synergy between soloist and orchestra. From the great downward sweep of massive piano chords at the outset, so typically Rachmaninov, there was no doubt that this would be a performance of pure drama. There was a considerable build-up of energy unleashed, with Hough reserving just that little bit of extra spark for his hugely dramatic cadenza, with the massive, crashing chords bringing the movement to an abrupt end.
Hindoyan and Hough managed to channel the dramatic impact of the first movement in a wholly different direction by way of a beautifully introspective Andante. This had poise and charm but the movement’s restful nature was soon shattered by the fast pace of the Allegro vivace finale. The complex orchestral textures required considerable discipline to maintain ensemble but Hindoyan proved his mettle and the fireworks brought the concerto to a sizzling conclusion.
Hough’s witty encore, his own charming arrangement of “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins, rather defused the power and emotion of the Rachmaninov, introduced as a tribute to the Sherman Brothers on Thanksgiving Day.
The second half was devoted to a compilation of movements from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet score, devised by Hindoyan himself. The conductor showed that he had the RLPO right in the palm of his hand. For pure exuberance, this performance would be hard to better, with plenty of drama, especially towards the end when the tragedy plays out to its bitter end.
There were many fine moments for the RLPO principals – bassoon, for instance, in the Friar Laurence movement – and much highly refined playing from the string section. A roller-coaster of emotions, from skittish swagger to the depths of despair, from playful moments to intense soul searching, showed the more familiar sections of the ballet cast in something of a new light.
The concert opened with the UK premiere Francisco Coll’s orchestration of Manuel de Falla’s Fantasía baetica. This piano piece was dedicated to Artur Rubinstein who never really took to it, which might explain its relative obscurity. Yet this turned out to be an orchestral showpiece, full of spiky rhythms, a true concerto for orchestra with much room for every instrument and section to shine. And that they did, the percussion in particular with some particularly brilliant playing from the brass.
