The centrepiece of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s latest concert with Chief Conductor Domingo Hindoyan was the world premiere of Roxanna Panufnik’s Lunar Solar, a double concerto for oboe and cor anglais. The composer – who was present this evening and evidently enjoyed the performance – wrote it in close collaboration with tonight’s soloists, Helena Mackie and Drake Gritton, principals with the RLPO since 2023 but who had played together in youth orchestras and as students.
The orchestra consisted of strings plus very significant parts for harp (Elizabeth McNulty) and percussion (Matthew Brett), but no wind instruments. Lighting and images of sun and moon projected behind the stage subtly enhanced the music. They made it clear that we were covering two days, but the effects were restrained. As with the classical-sized orchestra, this was a case where significant results came from limited means. The oboe related mainly to the sun and the cor anglais to the moon. The soloists often played separately, but when sun and moon came together the result was magical. Our two soloists made the work their own and delighted the audience.
There was a captivating double cadenza at the centre of the work. The composer’s use of Polish, Egyptian and Greek modes gave much of the work an exotic feel, which was enhanced by some remarkable effects from combinations of the soloists with harp or percussion. It was not a question of mere sound effects, however. There was a rhythmic variety and movement though the concerto which was always pleasing on the ear and a very enjoyable experience. Lunar Solar is to be repeated in Barrow-in-Furness by the same forces, and then further performances are scheduled with different orchestras and soloists in Warsaw and Glasgow. I hope they will be the first of many.
The concert began with a rare performance of Weber’s Symphony no. 2. The first movement is a substantial piece of about ten minutes, bringing to mind the overtures to Weber’s operas. The remaining three movements were much shorter, taking less time together than the first on its own. Against the odds, Hindoyan succeeded in making the symphony a satisfying whole, in particular by turning the pauses between themes and phrases into expressive features and running the brief third and fourth movements together. The prominence of the woodwind – the bassoons in particular – was another unifying feature, and unexpectedly it was the bassoons who had the last word.
The second half of the concert presented more familiar music. Haydn’s much-loved London Symphony is played a lot, but there was no suggestion that this was a routine performance. It was treated with as much care as the less familiar works of the first half. Hindoyan and the orchestra made each phrase count, as if telling a story that we needed to follow in detail. They emphasised the grandeur of the opening and the lyricism of the Andante, while not overlooking the humour in the work. The minuet and trio were surprisingly fast. The finale was indeed spritoso as Haydn directed. The whole concert was a thoroughly satisfying experience and the Haydn provided an uplifting ending.
