MacMillan’s new Concerto for Orchestra kicks off Antonio Pappano’s LSO tenure in style

The London Symphony Orchestra doesn’t change its Chief Conductor all that often, so last night’s season opener at the Barbican, the first with Sir Antonio Pappano in charge, was an eagerly anticipated occasion – all the more so since it featured a world premiere from one of our most lauded composers, the Concerto for Orchestra by Sir James MacMillan. Eagerly anticipated, but with some trepidation, because MacMillan’s output is so varied that there really was no telling in advance what the new work would be like. The programme note, written by the composer himself, didn’t give much away: an ever-so-erudite listing of musical structure and influences. 

So it came as quite a surprise when the concerto turned out to be an ebullient romp. Right from the beginning, this was properly exciting stuff, with high velocity brass figures sounding somewhere between minimalism and bebop, squealing clarinets, punchy rhythms, strings scurrying like the fight scenes from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The LSO’s double basses were a sight to behold, especially principal Rodrigo Moro Martín: never have I seen a classical bass player attack his instrument with such energy. The music got very filmic at points; we could have been listening to the soundtrack of a David Lean epic, a current fantasy movie or even to Shostakovich at his most manic. At other times, we might have been hearing fiddlers in the composer’s native Scotland, or folk music further afield in Eastern Europe. And it’s by no means all crash-bang-wallop; the concerto’s middle section is beautifully lyrical.

What makes the Concerto for Orchestra a perfect celebration piece is that every instrument in the orchestra gets its chance to shine, either singly or in unexpected combinations: harp and marimba, muted trumpet and flute, a threatening bassoon set against the skirl of a piccolo. Under Pappano’s enthusiastic guidance, the musicians in the LSO were clearly having a ball.

The concert’s second half, Sibelius’ Symphony no.1 in E minor, didn’t quite match the first for sheer exuberance. The LSO demonstrated similar excellence in terms of quality of sound of each instrument. The clarinet solo that opens the piece was beautifully played; every string section was perfectly tight, the trumpets gave a glorious sense of distance; horns and trombones were bombastic; the timpani – so important in this symphony – provided either punctuation or an underlying rumble. Pappano produced some daring dynamics, taking his pianissimi dangerously soft, but with the risks paying off. Overall, this was a satisfying performance, particularly good at emphasising the heroism in the music. Still, I think there’s more to come from this orchestra in this repertoire: string swell could have been lusher, the timings of handovers between instruments could have been that extra millisecond closer to perfection, both things that would have made for a more captivating overall result.

That was even more the case in the concert’s opening piece, Carl Nielsen’s Helios. The LSO succeeded here in showcasing the quality of their sound, most particularly (as was the case in the whole concert) the trumpets and the double basses, but there was room for more intensity and more clarity of the overall musical arc as the sun moves through the day.

All things told, however, the warmth between conductor, players and audience was palpable, so the LSO will have been delighted by this start to Pappano’s tenure. And the LSO is one of five orchestras who have co-commissioned the MacMillan concerto, so there are plenty of audiences around the world who will have chance to hear it. They’re in for a treat.