Under Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Philharmonia gave an interesting and occasionally rather bleak programme for a Sunday afternoon concert, juxtaposing Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto no. 2 in C sharp minor with two Strauss tone poems. The Shostakovich was a rewarding, albeit demanding listen, but flaws in the Strauss detracted from the overall experience.
Before the heavy-duty concerto, however, a brief amuse-bouche in the form of Sibelius’s Andante festivo, a rich and warm little dainty performed here with a sinuous glossiness, the strings ebbing and flowing, the piece developing entirely organically. A welcome start to the concert and an appropriate counterpoint to the Shostakovich.
Violinist Vadim Gluzman joined the orchestra for a muscular, exhausting account of Shostakovich’s final concerto. It’s a bleak, slightly haunting work which demands a great deal from its soloist against lean orchestration. Gluzman and Rouvali captured the balance adroitly, the rumbling of the deeper strings against Gluzman’s pallid tone perfectly judged. Gluzman’s early playing, technically extremely good particularly in the formidable runs, conveyed a sense of struggle, before a level of defiant jauntiness seemed to creep into his performance, the string equivalent of a nonchalant whistle. His precision continued into the third movement, the playing deftly frenzied over woodwind flurries. Little moments of contrast were emphasised – a glorious glow to the solo horn in the second movement offering a brief gleam against the darkness. Gluzman gave a thoughtful encore of Silvestrov’s Serenade.