Respighi from the Orchestra of Santa Cecilia

Rossini: Overture, The Siege of Corinth

Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No.1
Respighi: Fountains of Rome; Pines of Rome 

Orchestra of Santa Cecilia Rome
Sir Antonio Pappano conductor
Yuja Wang piano

Royal Festival Hall, London, 11 May 2017

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Antonio Pappano's Santa Cecilia orchestra has been making its mark on the international scene in recent years, but the orchestra's history goes back over a century to 1908.  Its string sound is on the lean side but with plenty of texture; a natural platform for an outstanding set of woodwind soloists.  The repertoire was focused on Italy, with a Rossini overture to start (always welcome) and the better two of the Roman Tryptich of Respighi.  This orchestra has special claims to these pieces having premiered them both in the early twentieth century.  It is highly pictorial music, from its depictions of flowing water to the moods of dawn and dusk.  There was no doubting the sensitivity of Pappano's approach and the superb contributions of his woodwind.  For the ground-pounding conclusion with the Roman Legions marching in triumph into Rome, Pappano stationed the brass high around the hall for extra surround sound effect.  A cinematic touch for the music that launched a thousand movie soundtracks.

 

Antonio Pappano conducts the Santa Cecilia Orchestra

A wonderfully withdrawn Valse Triste of Sibelius led into Rossini concluding the evening with the second encore of the William Tell overture.

Earlier, Yuja Wang had displayed all her supersonic piano technique in the Tchaikovsky piano concerto.  Tchaikovsky wrote a notoriously episodic concerto, and Pappano and Wang did nothing to fix that particular problem.  All moments were given their full indulgence, whether rapt reflection or thunderous attack.  Anything resembling an onward musical flow was lost, from which the big loser was the conclusion of the first movement which was stripped of all majesty and became yet another moment of display.  As so often the second movement fared well and Wang was genuinely thrilling in the finale.  The encores were memorable: a very fine Schubert/Liszt Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel, and then the jazzed up hyper-virtuoso version of Mozart's Rondo all Turca was a show stopper for which an inevitable ovation followed.