St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
Friday, November 7
A PACKED house at The Anvil enjoyed an evening of Russian music played by one of the world’s great orchestras.
The St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra showed just why its reputation remains so high. More than a hundred musicians filled the stage, producing a wonderful sound in response to Yuri Temirkanov’s understated yet effective conducting.
After Kikimora, a short and colourful piece by Liadov depicting a character from Russian folklore, the young violinist Leticia Moreno played the Violin Concerto no. 2 by Prokofiev.
Like his more famous music to the ballet Romeo and Juliet, this shows the composer’s trademark spiky lyricism.
The performance worked particularly well in the beautiful slow movement and dancing rhythm of the finale.
The last piece was one of the most famous symphonies of them all, Tchaikovsky’s Sixth, the Pathétique.
Its first ever performance was given by this very orchestra, conducted by Tchaikovsky himself just a few days before his mysterious death.
The orchestra must have played it hundreds of times but gave a performance which explored all the emotions in the music. The huge applause produced a fitting encore, Nimrod from Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
The audience, many of whom stood at the end to show their appreciation to a clearly delighted orchestra and conductor, knew they had heard something special.
Lucy Hamilton
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