Classical review: Royal National Orchestra, Glasgow

Royal Scottish National Orchestra

Kelvingrove Gallery, Glasgow

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SOME 20 years ago, a recording of Henryk Górecki’s Third Symphony – the Symphony of Sorrowful Songs – shook the classical establishment. To the learned, this hour-long immersion in aural stasis by a hitherto obscure Polish composer seemed like musical cotton wool, bland and fluffy; to the followers of easy-going classics, however, its innate simplicity and luscious sound world was an instant turn-on.

Since then its celebrity has waned and the composer has died (last year), so a live performance – such as that in the RSNO’s pre-season warm-up concert on Friday, repeated on Saturday – was not only timely in terms of its resonance with the weekend’s 11 September, 2001 anniversary (the three songs are laments) but also a welcome opportunity to reassess its winning qualities.

The acoustics of Kelvingrove, luxuriant and cavernous, were perfect as natural amplification to the slow-motion build-ups, the opening of double basses like a distant subterranean tremor and the ultimate emergence of the entire string section suspended like an ominous floating mist.

Danish soprano Sofie Elkjær Jensen’s youthful voice imbued the simple soaring melodies with purity and innocence, though her tone was neither focussed nor consistent enough to harness their suppressed ecstasy.

RSNO assistant conductor Christian Kluxen played the score impassionedly, letting it simmer consistently rather than boil over, reaffirming the selling point as the power of its hypnotic effect, marred only by the audience’s obsession with clapping at every musical gap.

The concert opened with a tidy, safe performance of Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll.

KENNETH WALTON