Candide Overture....Bernstein
Piano Concerto No 2....Rachmaninov
Symphony No 6 ("Pathetiqu e")....Tchaikovsky
The National Symphony Orchestra presented the programme for its forthcoming tour at the National Concert Hall last Friday night. Alexander Anissimov conducted three popular, high-quality works, and the concert had many of the strong features which this orchestra can produce under its principal conductor.
After a sparkling though not always tidy performance of Bernstein's Candide Overture, the NSO was joined by Joaquin Achucarro for Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No 2. The timing and balance of the opening piano chords showed immediately that Achucarro is a soloist who thinks deeply; and the way he spent large parts of the slow movement looking at members of the orchestra as well as the conductor, reinforced visually the aural impression that he knew the orchestral part as thoroughly as his own.
Through a true mix of heroism and lyricism, his playing did justice to this most celebrated of concertos. But the success also belonged to the NSO and Anissimov because of their ability to bend with the soloist's flexible shaping, their remarkable range of colour and, in the slow movement, a poise with long-line phrasing which made every event count.
Alexander Anissimov's approach to Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 (the "Pathetique") was characteristically individual. With the first three movements taken at the slowest end of possible speeds, and the Adagio finale a little faster than usual, this was a performance of definite and purposeful concepts.
Anissimov's speeds, spacious unfolding of ideas, and fearless exploration of some of the most extreme dynamics ever indicated by any composer, left the players with nowhere to hide. The NSO's response was wholehearted and, on the whole, technically reliable. Even if one was not always convinced by the conductor's interpretative stance, this was a performance which provoked admiration, and was moving.
The NSO plays in Galway on Tuesday November 28th, Limerick on Wednesday, Cork on Thursday, and Waterford on Friday.