MUSIC REVIEW: RLPO, Vassily Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

May 8 2008 by Glyn Mon Hughes, Liverpool Daily Post

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra perform at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall _320

ON THE face of it, this looked like one of those very worthy concerts – overture, concerto and symphony: Beethoven and Mozart. It could hardly go wrong.

And, indeed, like so many of Vasily Petrenko’s recent performances, it steamed along, the Beethoven pieces imbued with an explosive energy, the Mozart introspective and, at times, a little restrained.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra opened with Beethoven’s Egmont Overture. The opening was deliberate, precise and certainly let the audience know that the concert had started. Throughout, Petrenko led a poised and well articulated performance, always controlling the powerful crescendo and allowing the brass to build into an impressive chorus towards the end.

Over recent months Liverpool audiences, especially at the Ensemble 10/10 series, have grown used to hearing new music by Mark Simpson, the composer. It was good, therefore, to have him on stage as Mark Simpson the performer, especially bearing in mind his status as BBC Young Musician of the Year.

He and the orchestra seemed to be in total agreement from the outset of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto. The very deliberate and rather overly tense string sound at the outset grew into a finely rounded performance with Simpson showing off his considerable skill.

The slow movement was elegant with some barely audible pianissimo moments. The lower register of the clarinet brought something of a mysterious air to this movement while the finale turned into a riot of fun which both soloist and orchestra evidently enjoyed.

Petrenko produced a robust first movement of Beethoven’s Third Symphony, the Eroica. While it might have felt just a little rushed at the outset, it soon settled.

The monumental second movement, a funeral march, was creepily and pointedly soul-searching. The lower strings were particularly impressive here as were the solo members of the woodwind chorus – as they were, also, in the finale.

A breathless scherzo led into a final movement which Petrenko kept in control, but allowed a gradual build-up into a fine conclusion to the concert.