A mini standing ovation from the audience belies words it pains me to write: I didn’t ever think to find a CBSO concert dull, but this one was.
Efficiency was the order of the day, and certainly these magnificent players responded scrupulously to the impeccable technique of conductor Kazuki Yamada – though some histrionic sweeps around the podium seemed more destined for the gallery than for the work-force.
But when a work such as the Saint-Saens Organ Symphony leaves one unmoved, that’s serious. The piece has been in the orchestra’s blood for nearly half a century, and they are capable of every nuance called for. Trouble is, none were there in this reading under Yamada, just delivery.
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Certainly organist Stephen Farr relished the opportunities of Symphony Hall’s magnificent Klais organ, and the piano-duettists drew a lot of attention from the punters in the choir-stalls.
CBSO woodwind soloists can never fail to be eloquent, nor the strings (even if reduced by one desk each) deep-toned and agile, but the total effect was disappointing.
Similarly workmanlike was Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, another of the CBSO’s calling-cards. Yamada’s opening was crisp, he ensured a smooth flow throughout the sequence of variations, and he secured a warm empathy between the elegant orchestra and the well-weighted pianism of soloist Francesco Piemontesi. But again, the result was less than scintillating, and the necessity of a Debussy encore was beyond me.
Faure’s subtle Pelleas and Melisande incidental music (even some Elgarian bleakness in this score) came and went, my two chief impressions being Marie-Christine Zupancic’s wonderful flute solos, and the presence of cameras focused upon the conductor.
It comes to something when the most memorable item in a CBSO concert was the Toccata from Widor’s Organ Symphony no.5, a solo pre-encore from Stephen Farr, nimble, lively and, at the close, allowing the instrument to roar.