EIF: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Edinburgh Academy Junior School

In January 1867, Clara Schumann (born Clara Wieck) visited Edinburgh with the esteemed violinist Joseph Joachim on a grand concert tour. The performance was greeted “with tempestuous applause”, and encores were demanded of both artists, and this seems to have been the reaction, Europe-wide, to the wonderful pianist, the widow of Robert Schumann. Clara had been recognised as a virtuoso from a very young age, promoted by her father, and had composed music almost from the start. She began work on her Piano Concerto at the age of 14 in 1833, and performed the completed concerto at the Leipzig Gewandhaus, conducted by Felix Mendelssohn in 1835. 

This performance by the young pianist, Isata Kanneh-Mason, one of a family of musicians, was an exhilarating experience. In the grand structure erected in the grounds of the Edinburgh Academy Junior School, the sound at first took a little getting used to., but the thrill of live music again was wonderful. I thoroughly enjoyed this rendition of a youthful composition by a youthful player. Ms Kanneh-Mason has a lovely touch, shaping the phrases well, but keeping steely control of the keyboard fireworks in the piece. The second movement is most unusual, as it consists of a solo rhapsody for piano, into which a solo cello (played beautifully by the RPO‘s Principal Cellist) intervenes, creating a lovely romantic duet. The full orchestra returns, heralded by trumpets and drums, and we are off into a splendid finale with the piano in full virtuoso mood. Ms Kanneh-Mason has, in her short career, made Clara Schumann something of a speciality, and it is refreshing to hear the music of a young virtuoso played by a modern equivalent.  

For me, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony is one of the greatest symphonies in the repertoire, a statement of joy in the face of difficulty. Beset by increasing deafness, and living in Vienna, a city which had been recently occupied by the French under Napoleon, who had just won a victory at the Battle of Hainau, it is an extraordinarily optimistic work. The premiere in Vienna in December 1813, actually a benefit concert for the Austrians wounded at Hainau, was conducted by Beethoven himself. 

This performance, conducted by Vasily Petrenko, recently appointed as principal conductor of the RPO, was a triumph. Well-chosen tempi allowed us to hear the intricacies of Beethoven’s orchestration, especially the wonderful woodwind, and I enjoyed, in particular, the second movement, marked Allegretto but here nearer to a stately andante, which, for the first time, made me think about that first concert’s dedication to the war-wounded, its melancholy beauty haunting us in their memory. 

In my opinion, the final movement was too fast, almost frenzied in its whirlwind dance, but the wonder of Beethoven still shone through in all its mesmeric magnificence!