THIS was Andrew Litton's night, one that shone a spotlight upon his outstanding talents often shared with the BSO over the last twenty-five years.
An inspired choice to open the concert; Finzi's gorgeous Eclogue for piano and strings. The unforgettable slow theme expressed with clarity and raising a passionate climax from the strings, subsiding to eloquent repose.
In stark contrast Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in full orchestral guise, inhabits another world. Litton's dazzling fingerwork left myriad technical intricacies bereft of their potency with unstinting idiomatic support from the BSO. The demand for an encore, which Litton intimated we were going to hear anyway, was Round Midnight by Theolonious Monk in a marvellously moody realization.
To top this Litton turned to Mahler's Symphony No.5, Delivered with patrician resolve, coherent and cogent in all its textural layers.
From Peter Turnbull's trumpet fanfare Litton evoked world-weary gloom with total conviction. The storm blew in with extreme ferocity. Richard Vaughan Thomas and his team of horn players were glorious, helping Litton to express the notion that the waltz-inspired Scherzo arises from previous episodes of despondency despite the jubilant exclamation.
The Adagio pulsated with love and passion while the finale broke the mould with self parodying humour, a magnificent chorale and an almost unseemly dash to close.
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