ENTICING exciting, exultant playing from Jon Kimura Parker in Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No3 in which conductor Andrew Litton (no mean pianist himself) drew top flight playing from the BSO.
The music eases lyrically at first and with gathering pace eventually blazes into a raging climax. Parker’s pliant fingerwork in the formidable cadenza was testimony to a fearsome technique.
Melancholy, wrought with exceptional finesse by Litton set up Parker’s calmly reflective entry. His impassioned artistry in the central episode and contextually delicate playing flowed into the dramatic finale.
And what a finale! The integration was knife edged with waves of thrilling sound and Parker off-the-seat; the peroration took the house by storm!
Born of nature, expressed with exquisite orchestration; Sibelius’ Symphony No.6 showered us in high, twinkling violin tones and later Litton brokered silvered exchanges between the upper strings. The second movement is curious, yet full of Sibelian fingerprints and within the scherzo, nervy staccato gestures ended emphatically.
The last movement’s seemingly disjointed episodes were woven with Litton’s assured grasp of its complexities and brought to a mesmerising climax and starlit silence.
Recently honoured by the King of Norway, Litton fielded Grieg’s four Norwegian Dances to delight our ears. Substantial pieces and often featuring Edward Kay’s eloquent oboe, they made a welcome exordium.
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