A bit of this, a bit of that

As a large, modern, efficient symphony orchestra, the RSNO can fire its big guns - in other words perform such works as Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben as a repertory piece in a way it was once unable to.

Rightly, audiences now expect such showpieces, or blockbusters, to form a normal part of the winter season, and though  Strauss is almost absent this time, except for the desolate Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings, we can be sure that Ein Heldenleben  will not be missing for long  - though it would be good to think that the Domestic Symphony might be in the offing.

What we are getting instead are things such as Ravel’s La Valse, which are not  showpieces at all but, in this case, a powerful, deeply disturbing, masterly statement about the time in which it was written. We’re also getting Respighi’s Pines of Rome and Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, old-fashioned colour pieces I now tend to regard as inessentials, and the radiant  splendour of Nielsen’s Inextinguishable Symphony.  A bit of this and a bit of that - including, from Sir Roger Norrington, a welcome dash of Haydn.

Not quite enough to suggest a  scrupulously structured season, but at least enough to please.The little touches of France, here and there, are things I look forward to. Are they  sufficient? In the absence of Stephane Denever, perhaps not. But they will do.
11 September 2-14