2012-05-18

Denve takes leave of RSNO with magnificent Daphnis et Chlo | Seen and Heard International

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Denve takes leave of RSNO with magnificent Daphnis et Chlo

May 12, 2012 United Kingdom MacMillan, R Strauss, Ravel: Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Stphane Denve (conductor), Usher Hall, Edinburgh, 11.5.2012 (SRT) MacMillan: Britannia Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel Ravel: Daphnis et Chlo (complete)

All good things must come to an end, and so it is that, after seven remarkably successful years, Stphane Denve tonight conducted his final concert as Music Director of the RSNO. Under his leadership the orchestra has evolved into a crack team of virtuosi, capable of looking any of the great bands of Europe in the eye, and their comfort with such a huge diversity of repertoire is perhaps his finest legacy to them. Tonights programme was carefully designed to show that off. MacMillans Britannia is an orchestral fantasy based on themes associated with Britain. The orchestra is given extraordinary treatments of everything from Knees up, Mother Brown to a lopsided version of God Save the Queen, together with some very British noises such as a quacking duck, a motor horn and a referees whistle. The opening bars unleash merry chaos, played with virtuosic precision, before yielding to a more serious, contemplative section which sees the work through to its very unsettled conclusion. The brass were given the most fireworks, but the deeply soulful string playing in the middle was even more impressive, creating a shimmering bed of sound for the remainder of the music to rest on. Till Eulenspiegel is a link to Germany, where Denve is going next (hes already Music Director at Stuttgart) and Strausss showpiece gave the whole orchestra the chance to shine in its turn. The strings sounded rich and Germanic, revelling in Strausss melodies, against perky, upstart winds which seemed to thumb their nose at proceedings at every opportunity. Each episode was shaped lovingly with an eye predominantly to the comedy, and the brass sounded fantastic before being cut off in their prime at the gallows scene.
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2012-05-18

Denve takes leave of RSNO with magnificent Daphnis et Chlo | Seen and Heard International

But it is perhaps in French repertoire that Denve has made his greatest mark. The RSNO is now, probably, the finest ensemble in these islands when it comes to playing French music and, after treating us to so much Debussy this season, it was with Ravel that Denve chose to make his exit. All the gifts that the orchestra have honed under his leadership came to the fore in the great expanse of the complete Daphnis et Chlo, strings that could shimmer radiantly in the love scenes and then give way to brash violence for the pirates music, and winds that could colour a character and then ripple magnificently at the start of Part Three. Throughout there was a beautiful colour to the sound, grotesque bassoons and lurid brass in Dorcons dance, sensual beauty for the love music of Daphnis and Chloe, but it always came with a wonderful French lilt, almost as with a wink and a smile, reminding us that Ravel is only a few steps away from the world of jazz. Denve himself repeatedly injected special flashes of colour into the music and, when it came to the finale, went hell-for-leather into the Bacchanal, all restraints thrown off for a joyous, blazing, tumultuous end, not just to an extraordinary performance, but to seven great years at the helm. After the final chords the entire Usher Hall rose to its feet for an ovation for a great musician, but also as a sign of the affection in which he has come to be held here. He will be much missed. Au revoir, Stphane. Booking is now open for the RSNOs 2012-13 season, when the orchestra will welcome Peter Oundjian as its new Music Director. For full details go to www.rsno.org.uk Simon Thompson

Posted by Stan (online) | Filed Under Concert Reviews, Previously Published, UK Concerts

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Aaron Smith Aart van der Wal Alain Matalon Ben Eichler Bernard Jacobson Bettina Mara Bill Kenny Bob Briggs Bruce Hodges Carla Rees Christopher Gunning Christopher Thomas Clare Adams Colin Clarke Daniel Gallagher Daniele Sahr Gavin Dixon Geoff Diggines Geoff Read George Grella Glyn Pursglove Goran Forsling Harvey Steiman Jack Buckley James L. Zychowicz Jens F Laurson Jim Pritchard Jiten S. Merchant JM Irurzun John Leeman John Quinn John Rhodes Jonathan Spencer Jones Karl Henning
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