Classical review: Scottish Chamber Orchestra

Published on Friday 16 April 2010 22:41

SCOTTISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA USHER HALL, EDINBURGH * * * *

HOW'S this for different? This week's Scottish Chamber Orchestra programme didn't actually see the orchestra appear until the second half of the concert. The first half was given over completely to a performance of Schubert's Piano Sonata in D by pianist Christian Zacharias, the evening being completed by him conducting a symphony dating from the same late period of Schubert's life: No 9, the so-called Great C Major.

It was a clever idea that offered a revealing insight into two distinctive sides of the short-lived Schubert – the writer/performer of powerful solo sonatas against the underrated orchestral craftsman. But more importantly, it was a telling statement that the difference is much less than you might think.

Scale has little to do with it. This particularly effusive piano sonata, as Zacharias compellingly illustrated in a typically studied performance, is as lengthy and all-consuming as any symphony of its period. He made everything matter. Every gesture had purpose, whether it was to colour the most seemingly insignificant phrases with subtle tonal distinction, to make sense of the near-obsessive rhythmic repetitions (the spirit of Beethoven?), or simply to draw out surprising connections between one remote idea and another.

To say that Zacharias effectively orchestrated the work is to recognise the very personal connection that existed between his solo performance and his later conducting of the Ninth Symphony.

His careful, often leisurely, reading of the latter also threw up fascinating aspects of instrumental detail that often go unnoticed. He even managed to imbue the strings' obsessive galloping motif in the finale with varying charm, just as he did with the rhythms in the sonata.

If anything, the symphony needed a bit more oomph. Yes, Zacharias was clearly bent on manicuring its delights with pristine care. But it does have its daring moments, and these were often underplayed.