Music review: RSNO & Simon Trpčeski, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Thomas Søndergård’s meticulous attention to detail while keeping an eye on the bigger picture was integral to success of this performance, writes Susan Nickalls

Music review: RSNO & Simon Trpčeski, Usher Hall, Edinburgh *****

Love might have been the focus of the RSNO’s Romantic Valentine’s offering but this fabulous programme was a reminder that love is often tied to other strong emotions – for instance, the suffering of Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers featured in selections from Suites 1, 2 and 3 of Prokofiev’s ballet Romeo and Juliet.

The strident Montagues and Capulets, better known as the theme for The Apprentice, set the tone for the unfolding tragedy. Conductor Thomas Søndergård balanced the orchestral colours and glittering textures with superb clarity and precision. Whether it was the giddy breathlessness of the strings in Juliet the Young Girl or the terrifying stabbing timpani and woodwind chords representing Tybalt’s Death, this was an intense and gripping listen.

Søndergård’s meticulous attention to detail while keeping an eye on the bigger picture was integral to the tightly-knit relationship between soloist Simon Trpčeski and the orchestra in Saint-Saëns’s virtuosic Piano Concerto No. 2. From the get-go Trpčeski’s hands effortlessly zipped up and down the keyboard delivering the tumbling phrases and dramatic chords with alacrity. Instead of the usual showy encore, Trpčeski chose “for a better world”, the serenity of Saint-Saëns’s The Swan – a moving duet with RSNO cellist Betsy Taylor.

To begin the concert, the orchestra gave the UK premiere of Iain Farrington’s Symphonic Fantasy on King Roger. Supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the work is based on the music from Szymanowski’s opera about King Roger II, the 12th century Italian ruler of Sicily, and his power struggle with a mysterious Shepherd. But while there was an otherworldly sumptuousness to the harp and celeste-fringed music which ebbed and flowed towards a glorious climax, it came across more like a film score without the images or a narrative structure to provide an overall context.