CityLife

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra: Beethoven

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Bridgewater Hall
May 6, 2010

The Royal Philharmonic is a rare visitor to Manchester, but it makes a sound that’s very much its own. With its principal guest conductor Pinchas Zukerman appearing as both violin soloist and conductor, it served up an all-Beethoven programme in an old-fashioned way.

Its strings strength is solid and boomy (equal numbers of first and second violins and also of cellos and basses) by comparison with some, and for the seventh symphony the horns were doubled much of the time and a third trumpet added here and there. None of your fashionably lean-and-mean Beethoven here – but arguably making a sound that, in the big space of the Bridgewater Hall, had the same kind of impact as a period orchestra would have originally had in a period auditorium.

It certainly made his music hugely enjoyable. Zukerman began with an account of the Egmont overture that showed off the collective power of the strings’ articulation (led by Clio Gould) and then led the full band into the violin concerto.

Balance was never a problem – his sweet and ringing tone was distinctive throughout – but occasionally ensemble was. There are limits to what can be done to direct a large body of players when you’re engaged in solo playing at the same time, and the accompaniment of the slow movement was in danger of becoming becalmed here and there for lack of rhythmic emphasis.

But it was a great display of violin playing, with the Kreisler cadenza to the first movement projected to the rafters, and Zukerman’s finale dancing its way to its conclusion – and received with much enthusiasm. 

The seventh symphony, with all that sounding brass, was a thrill. Zukerman’s choice of speeds was masterly: I thought he had the pace of the second movement exactly right, where it brought a sense of solemnity allied with a fervent, singing quality in the phrasing. 

There was a brief moment of neo-Romantic relaxation in the first movement exposition which seemed like a throwback to the distinguished ‘old-school’ approach to Beethoven, but the scherzo rattled its way to its climax, and the finale was as electrifying as it ever should be.