MUSIC

St George’s Bristol (Thur 8 Dec)

Intriguing to see Andras Schiff in front of an orchestra minus the big black box of keys with which he customarily unlocks musical doors. True, earlier, he’d despatched Haydn’s D major keyboard Concerto with scintillating wit and wisdom – directing Oxford Philomusica with an inscrutability that argued: “Conductors? Who needs them?” He seemed more intent on listening than leading. A beatific smile and the occasional twitching of thumb and forefinger are all it took. And while two curtain-raising solos (a Fantasia and Sonata) had provided much to admire, it was the Concerto that added ‘love’ to the equation. His first movement cadenza smuggled in a literal ‘Surprise’ or two, while the finale didn’t stint on the paprika as Hungarian-born Schiff got in touch with his inner ‘gypsy’. The second half opened with something of a Brendel speciality: Haydn’s (for it was exclusively a Haydn hooley) sublime F minor/major Variations. And there was more than a little of Brendel’s sovereign intellectual concentration in Schiff’s aristocratic delineation. But there was no ‘prop’ for the conclusion as Schiff spearheaded the ‘London’ Symphony which, in a space similar to that of its premiere, raised the roof with its immediacy and impish elan – from the arresting, incisive opening (hard timps sticks setting the tone) to the flairful finale. Maybe the ensemble wobbled a tad in the Andante, but the Minuet was rammed with fine-tuned felicities. During his Beethoven sonata cycle, for a couple of years Schiff was a St George’s fixture: his long-overdue reunion reminded us what we’ve been missing. (Paul Riley).

Copyright Paul Riley 2011