Review - Berliner Staatskapelle and Barenboim triumphantly conclude Bruckner week

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Concerto No.22 in E flat, K.482

Anton Bruckner: Symphony No.9

Staatskapelle Berlin

Daniel Barenboim conductor

20 April 2012, Royal Festival Hall, London

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Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin brought their week long residency to a close with the last and most awe inspiring of the lot - Bruckner's 9th Symphony - and a well deserved ovation.

Barenboim in (much) earlier days

They first brought great style and poise to Mozart's 22nd Piano Concerto.  Easily one of Mozart's best concertos, it contains unusual lyrical interludes for the woodwinds where the Staatskapelle players shone.  Barenboim's playing was equal to his orchestra - affectionate, spontaneous and revelling in the contrasts of the score.

...and in 2011

Barenboim chose some daringly spacious speeds for the Bruckner 9th.  The 9th remains incomplete with the fourth movement finale not finished at his death, but its 3 completed movements still make it perhaps the most far-reaching and profound of Bruckner's works.  The Staatskapelle were in fine form again in maintaining the line and tension, and produced richly satisfying Brucknerian climaxes.  The scherzo was tight, sinister and detailed.  The blazingly dissonant chord that marks the peak of the adagio was a perfect musical moment: punched out with all parts of the orchestra marvellously blended from the timpani through brass and woodwind to the strings.  Barenboim added his bit by extending the time the chord is held.  It was shattering, and its memory the perfect backdrop for the concluding pages.

This was a special concert to close a great Brucknerian week in London.  The appeal was multi-faceted: the poetic gift of Mozart, the cosmic ambition of Bruckner's 9th, the close partnership of the Staatskapelle Berlin and their chief conductor, and Barenboim's own personal connection with the London musical public.