Goodbye from the Stuttgart Radio SO
Jul. 28th, 2016 10:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sawylReally rather lovely swansong from the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra in their final concert before their merger with the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra. After opening with a Berlioz overture, we got Beethoven's fourth piano concerto with Robert Levin, followed by a dazzling encore in the shape of the Intermezzo from Robert Schumann's Faschingsswank aus Wien — a piece I didn't know at all and which really impressed me.
The final piece on the programme was a clear and direct reading of Brahms first symphony showing all the merits of Roger Norrington's charactertically insightful approach. After a short encore — one of the Hungarian Dances — there was a poignent moment when Natalie Chee, the orchestra's leader, addressed the audience, saying farewell on behalf of the company.
The orchestra's final send-off was a very beautiful performance of Nimrod from the Enigma Variations, a piece which benefited greatly from Norrington's no-vibrato approach and which seemed all the more touching for its brisk tempo and lack of the great, swooping Romantic gestures that often make it seem cloying. It was a delightfully affecting ending and I'm pretty sure that Martin Handley had a wobble in his voice as he concluded the concert and handed over to his colleagues in Broadcasting House.
The final piece on the programme was a clear and direct reading of Brahms first symphony showing all the merits of Roger Norrington's charactertically insightful approach. After a short encore — one of the Hungarian Dances — there was a poignent moment when Natalie Chee, the orchestra's leader, addressed the audience, saying farewell on behalf of the company.
The orchestra's final send-off was a very beautiful performance of Nimrod from the Enigma Variations, a piece which benefited greatly from Norrington's no-vibrato approach and which seemed all the more touching for its brisk tempo and lack of the great, swooping Romantic gestures that often make it seem cloying. It was a delightfully affecting ending and I'm pretty sure that Martin Handley had a wobble in his voice as he concluded the concert and handed over to his colleagues in Broadcasting House.
