Classical review: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

THERE was much excitement in the RSNO stable last week, with the announcement that Denmark’s Thomas Søndergård has been appointed principal guest conductor of the orchestra.

Although not due to take up his three-year tenure until the 2012/13 season, we got a sneak preview of Søndergård on Saturday, and it would appear the baton is in safe hands.

Ravel’s Valses nobles et sentimentales is a work that somehow manages to charm and frustrate at the same time. On the one hand, the seven short waltzes and epilogue are filled with romance; delicate and ardent in equal measure. But by its very nature, the piece prevents the listener from fully absorbing themselves in the short-lived beauty. To his credit, Søndergård found the individual strengths in each fragment, his debonair style enveloping the orchestra like a caress.

No such tenderness in Prokofiev’s Symphony No 5, a powerhouse of a work premiered in 1945 as the Second World War came to a close. There is the occasional nod to the gentleness of Romeo and Juliet (elements of the fifth symphony were composed with material left over from the well-loved ballet) but for the most part it’s wall-to-wall drama. Søndergård drove the orchestra like an army into battle, until its thrilling emergency stop climax.

In-between, award-winning guest cellist Natalie Clein gave us more than our money’s worth with Haydn’s Cello Concerto No 1, an impromptu solo encore of Bach’s G major Prelude – and even re-joining the orchestra for the Prokofiev closer.

Rating: ****