Classical review: SCO/Zacharias, Glasgow

WITH the wild weather difficult to ignore, last night’s Paris-themed programme by the SCO under Christian Zacharias was a calming antidote.

Christian Zacharias. Picture: Contributed

SCO/Zacharias

City Halls, Glasgow 
Star rating; * * * *

The Haydn symphony that opened the programme – No.85, La Reine – was exquisitely detailed and marked by a deftness of touch so delicate, yet so alive. All of which allowed Zacharias to tease out such quirky eccentricities as the stabbing horn in the opening movement, or the perky bassoon in the third movement Trio.

Doubling as soloist in Mozart’s Jeunehomme Piano Concerto, Zacharias conjured up a magical conversational rapport with the orchestra, drawing out the subtle darkness of the Andantino against the outer movements’ lustre.

Ravel’s Pavane pour une infanta defunte, deliciously delicate as it was, lacked some genuine warmth. But Poulenc’s Sinfonietta, with a faintly nostalgic nod to Brahms in the Andante, sent us off with a smile. Same programme tonight in Edinburgh.