LPO's Youth and wisdom create pure magic

While the dynamic young French Canadian Yannick Nézet-Séguin has been setting audiences alight with his electrifying interpretations since becoming principal guest conductor of the orchestra, Aldo Ciccolini, now well into his eighties, is something of a legend. Neither disappointed.

Nézet-Séguin brought the Mediterranean sun of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony to the Festival Hall, showering it with love and affection.

In Dvorák's Symphony No 7 in D Minor, by contrast, he sought the darker, Wagnerian timbres, in a reading that combined lyrical rapture and volcanic intensity. For all the lilt, winningly done, of the dance music featured in the last two movements, this was a performance both physically demanding for the players and emotionally draining for the audience.

In Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto, Ciccolini demonstrated that he could still command impressive agility and litheness. Curiously, though, there was less freedom in much of his phrasing than Nézet-Séguin had invoked in the Mendelssohn. Occasionally, however, he broke free from metrical constraints and revealed a poetic gift ripened by a lifetime’s wisdom.

Ciccolini traces his pedigree back to Liszt and Busoni and indeed, with his flowing white mane, he rather resembles Liszt in profile. Just as one was thinking how good it would be to hear him play something of that repertoire, he returned to the platform and obliged with a short encore, delivered with inimitable charm and delicacy. Pure magic.

LPO/Nezet-Seguin
Festival Hall
Southbank Centre
Belvedere Road
London
SE1 8XX