Runnicles goes French

Donald Runnicles and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra have established themselves as one of the leading music making groups in Britain in the two years since he was appointed Chief Music conductor. There have been memorable performance, especially in the central European repertoire, but this programme showed them equally adept in the more subtle shadings of French music. It was a clever move to programme Dutilleux's masterful cello work along with three popular favourites, although the gear change from Tout un monde lointain into Bolero wasn't exactly smooth.Still, for the most part, most of the performances were excellent. The opening L'apres midi d'un faune was light, airy and as sensuous as one could wish, the music allowed to unfold naturally.The orchestra responded with playing of grace and poetry: Rosemary Eliot's flute solo…