MUSIC / LPO / Welser-Most - Royal Festival Hall, South Bank
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Your support makes all the difference.In a neatly planned programme the London Philharmonic opened each half of its Tuesday concert with a work by a famous wunderkind which enabled an individual section of the orchestra to display its skill and virtuosity. First there was the 12-year-old Rossini's Third String Sonata which was given with considerable panache; next the wind section brought warmth and finesse to Strauss's Serenade in E flat, composed at the age of 17. But the main business of the evening was Brahms's First Piano Concerto and the complete stage version of Bartok's ballet The Miraculous Mandarin. Pianist Radu Lupu revealed the storm-tossed world of Brahms's first symphonic masterpiece in an interpretation of majestic presence, moving with masterly control from turbulence to lyricism, while Franz Welser-Most and the orchestra responded powerfully to the music's symphonic grandeur.
The Bartok contained much to excite, especially the bustle of the opening street scene. But hearing the work complete made one realise why the composer had concocted his concert suite, for the later sections omitted from the suite fell a little flat without stage action despite the conductor's and orchestra's best efforts.
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