In his typically erudite post-concert address to the audience, Daniel Barenboim mischievously promised not to talk about politics. The only way to defeat isolationism, he said after his first encore (Nimrod, of course), is through shared culture, before (once again) launching into the Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 as proof of his point. Sure enough, he didn't mention the B-word, but to hear a German orchestra of the Staatkapelle Berlin's class playing Elgar with such heart was surely nothing if not political. Encores are seldom so worthy of note, but the great tune of the march, tonight entirely without its questionable text, has never moved me so much.
We are curiously protective of Elgar in this country, bemoaning his absence from continental programmes but raising our eyebrows a fraction on the rare occasion his symphonies are played. Surely no foreign orchestra could possible hope to capture that particularly British spirit which pervades these works? Barenboim noted after the symphony how keen his wonderful orchestra had been to show their Elgar off to the Proms; the partnership can probably now be added to a shortlist of the great Elgarians.
The Second Symphony is a curious beast, lacking the 'big tune' which bookends the First and requiring an unfaltering grasp of its long structure in order to make sense of its complexities. Barenboim's reading, conducted without a score, had generally quick tempi throughout, and a dramatic arc laid out with compelling clarity. The Berliners' playing was on the whole a notch more muscular than most accounts of this music, and they did remarkably well to maintain such clean textures, even in the notoriously unsympathetic Royal Albert Hall acoustic.
The first movement was attacked briskly as the post-interval applause died down, and almost all of the strophes which mark the key waypoints, where Barenboim would typically throw on the brakes from an otherwise quick pace, were observed with unflinching accuracy. The second movement, though unfussy and forward looking in tempo, formed the emotional heart of the symphony. The noble theme which weaves its way through the fabric of the music above soft bass footsteps was treated with ravishing dignity, profoundly human in its self doubt and grandeur and above all backed by the glorious strong sound of this venerable ensemble. The restlessly wandering oboe solo later in the movement was especially memorable.