This was the second of the two introductory concerts for Peter Oundjian, the new Music Director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. After the overture he told us that the choice of music was his, and he had chosen some of his favourites.
As a boy of ten Peter Oundjian had sung for Benjamin Britten. Hence we were treated to Four Sea Interludes suite from Britten’s first successful opera Peter Grimes. Britten spent most of his life close to the sea in Suffolk and we heard his interpretation of, in turn, the Impact of the Sea, Dawn, Sunday morning and Moonlight and finished with Storm. The opera was first performed in 1945 with his partner Peter Pears as Peter Grimes.
As a gay man I have always been fascinated by news of Britten and Pears - and who better to add to it than the RSNO’s double bass player of twenty-nine years, Paul Sutherland, in his debut pre-concert talk. Whilst studing at the Royal Academy of Music in London he and colleagues visited Aldeburgh more than once and came to see that there was a third member of the intrigue, Mstislav Rostropovich - who said call me Slav. I hope we hear more fascinating gossip from Paul Sutherland in future talks, as well as snippets on his giant wardrobe.
Twenty four year old Natasha Paremski gave a thrilling performance of Rachmaninov’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. Completely at ease talking to the audience we were told that as we were such a receptive audience we deserved an encore. And all the time she was playing the Steinway she was wearing red stiletto heels. None of the sensible shoes, dear.
After the interval Peter Oundjian conducted Brahms Symphony No 1 which some have called Beethoven’s tenth. Certainly there’s a measure of his fifth, and some of his ninth in a sophisticated work that Brahms spent very many years concocting. The audience loved it all, but the Orchestra was one up on us and ended the night on more Brahms - his short Hungarian Dance No 5.
There’s more than just a beginning of a new season feeling around the RSNO. Peter Oundjian’s too nice a guy to rock the boat - but in this past fortnight it is clear who is in charge. Both the RSNO Chairman and the Chief Executive were seen smiling contentedly.
Event: Friday 12 October 2012 at 7.30pm