The piano tuner was just finishing his last minute work as the doors opened. The large audience had come to hear one of the great pianists of our time, John Lill.
The evening’s conductor was an unknown name. And having had no leader of the orchestra for a while we would have expected a guest leader to come on stage ahead of the conductor. But not this time, for the Royal Scottish National Orchestra now has a Principal Guest Leader, James Clark. He was already on stage and in charge of the last minute tune up.
On came the 28 year old Polish Krzysztof Urbanski who, without a moment’s delay, was into Beethoven’s Coriolan Overture. Written in 1807 not for his opera but for Heinrich von Collin’s tragic drama, it is was a short and comfortable start. We quickly learned that the young conductor had presence. His conducting was forceful with the baton and conciliatory and encouraging with his left hand.
John Lill has been a stage performer for over 50 years and in as many countries. Countless times he must have performed Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No 1 and he certainly showed us how it was done. The audience was delighted. He wanted to share the praise with the conductor but he showed an engaging reticence to take any of the limelight.
After the interval Krzysztof Urbanski conducted one of his specialities, Dvorák’s Fifth Symphony. I heard several people saying they had not heard it before - Urbanski is determined to bring it to the fore by conducting it in several of Europe’s concert halls this year. And pleasing it was. Again the reticence, despite very considerable applause, that was appreciated by an Edinburgh audience more than perhaps anywhere else.
It was a particularly happy combination of a young and relatively untried conductor with one of the most experienced of all piano soloists. And to add gravitas we had the first appearance of the Principal Guest Leader presiding over an Orchestra in fine fettle. I could tell from the satisfied look on people’s faces on the way out that it had been an unexpectedly good concert.
Event: Friday 15 October 2010 7.30pm