Perfect pairs: Stravinsky with the LSO, Thomas Adès and Anne-Sophie Mutter

This did not look a programme certain to sell out, but a near full house heard this London Symphony Orchestra concert conducted by Thomas Adès. Yes there was a superstar violinist in Anne-Sophie Mutter, and a recent Adès work for her to play. But perhaps the attraction was as much the rare chance to hear live Stravinsky’s last two ballet scores. This was a programme of pairs, those ballets as the outer pillars, and two short concertante works for Mutter to play either side of the interval.

Orpheus (1947) comes late in Stravinsky’s neo-classical period, continuing a series of works on classical themes (Oedipus, Apollo, Perséphone). As in Perséphone, the harp (or Orpheus’ lyre) is prominent, opening and closing Stravinsky’s unusually restrained lyrical score. Coming from a composer who said music is “incapable of expressing anything”, there are numerous espressivo markings and a cantabile aria superbly sing by the oboes. Even the music of the Furies is “soft... like the rest of the ballet”, admitted the composer. But music needs variety even with limited dynamics, and Adès used frequent gestures designed to adjust sound levels – no meandering up to a general mezzoforte. So when it came, the one loud outburst was stunning.

Lutosławski’s Partita never quite makes up its mind what it is perhaps (though that title implies a set of dances), having a traditional fast-slow-fast structure within its continuous span, but with short “ad lib” interludes between sections carried over from its piano and violin origins. It was written for Mutter, who here proved an incomparable advocate of it, spinning a fine lyrical line in the Largo and hurtling to an athletic virtuoso close in the Presto.

The UK premiere of Adès’ Air – Homage to Sibelius was a success both in unveiling a captivating work and for the sense of occasion it brought, with the composer conducting the soloist for whom he wrote it. This “homage to Sibelius” began with quiet radiant string counterpoint recalling the opening of the Finn’s Sixth Symphony. But there was no secondary material, for this “Air” – or extended aria – continues its canonic procedure throughout. The playing of these slow seraphic sounds was increasingly absorbing, as the soloist added her own serenely blissful contribution, and silvery tone, to the discourse. Again the control over such a uniform 16-minute arch was remarkable, with alluring gradations of quietness. The Barbican is criticised for its hard sound when we hear Bruckner, Mahler or Shostakovich, and a phalanx of heavy brass against the back wall. This programme of mainly quiet music showed off the hall’s merits. Air was given a very warm welcome, surely a welcome into the repertoire.

Agon (Greek for “contest”) can also be seen as a classical work, though it is an abstract piece without narrative. Stravinsky’s new interest in serial techniques is reflected in the 1957 score, but one never gets the sense that any note ensues because it is the next in the tone row to tick off. It is a noble end to the composer’s series of eleven ballets, and made a perfect close to the concert – another new Stravinsky stylistic exploration, ten years after Orpheus. The various unexpected instrumental combinations were deftly performed by the LSO, once called, by Sir Simon Rattle on this platform, “one of the best Stravinsky orchestras in the world”. (No-one blushed. “One of ?”). Leader Benjamin Gilmore was busy, and his expert solos were matched around the platform, some duetting so far apart Adès could have abandoned the standard layout. An original programme superbly executed.