Music
BBC SSO
City Halls, Glasgow
Keith Bruce
five stars
IF Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 has one of the most famous openings in all music, the brooding, questioning beginning to the Symphony No 11 of Shostakovich, “The Year 1905”, is surely just as powerful in its very different way. Conductor Alexander Vedernikov’s operatic experience, from the Bolshoi and across Europe and the Atlantic to his new role in Copenhagen, was apparent in every detail of the long unfolding narrative of the symphony. Principal trumpet Mark O’Keefe’s partnership with Heather Corbett’s snare drum was captivating, Julian Roberts outstanding on bassoon, and Gordon Rigby put in a full shift of every tonal possibility on the timpani. There was a concentration and intensity about the string playing of the orchestra that extended across all the sections with the demanding unison passages graced by a world-class robust ensemble sound. Somewhat incredibly, the evening’s printed programme noted that this performance, broadcast live on Thursday evening, appeared to be the first time the SSO had ever performed the work – in which case it was a truly remarkable debut. My colleague Michael Tumelty would undoubtedly have called the impact of the concluding bars “shattering”, and I reckon that adjective is spot-on for the effect it had, marred slightly by some over-hasty applause from a section of the audience.
The enthusiasm was understandable though, the first half having matched the symphony for excitement. As the SSO audience in particular knows, young Russian pianist Denis Kozhukhin knows how to work a Steinway, and the concert grand got a full work-out on the virtuoso concerto that paved the way for Tchaikovsky’s most celebrated ballet scores. Vedernikov’s dynamic control of the first movement was very special indeed, and there was a deliciously crisp snap to the brass playing in the finale, with Rigby on top form there too.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here