Pre-concert publicity promised that we would be treated to something marvellous from the violin soloist Hyeyoon Park at the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s concert. On this occasion the hype was totally justified.
Ostensibly, the programme choices for the concert were safe. Two well-known pieces by Beethoven and Brahms were preceded by a relatively obscure work from an acknowledged great, Robert Schumann.
Beethoven is usually viewed as the composer who summed up Classicism and ushered in Romanticism. The centrepiece of this concert was a performance of his Violin Concerto.
It must be daunting to find a fresh approach to such a well-known and much-loved piece. Hyeyoon Park overcame whatever strictures she may have felt with seeming ease.
Park favoured a full-blooded, no-holds-barred approach throughout. Never more so than in her playing of the first movement cadenza. Her performance of the concerto was one of great passion and attack.
The emotion was not, however, expressed at the cost of accuracy and technique. And what a technique she has!
The concert opened with a fiery performance of the overture to Genoveva – Schumann’s only, not very successful, opera. This is a turbulent, almost wayward work with many instrumental flourishes. The brass section, especially the French horns, were on particularly excellent form here.
The final work in the concert was Brahms’ Fourth Symphony. Brahms is usually seen as the direct heir to Beethoven – a romantic composer with a classical soul.
The approach here of the conductor Adam Hickox favoured expansion rather than restraint, feeling rather than reflection. The interpretation of the work was very, very expressive. The LPO responded to his leadership with vim. Their playing was, of course, wonderful.
The concert was greatly enjoyed by an almost-full house.
