Classical giants

This was the third and final performance in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (RCO) three concert residency at London’s Barbican Hall. As with the other two, it featured a Bruckner symphony with a concerto from one of the classical giants. This looked arguably the most enticing of the lot; Bruckner ‘s great valedictory statement and one of Beethoven’s most exuberant, youthful works.

Together Mariss Jansons and soloist Lars Vogt gave us a weighty, yet fresh and lithe account of Beethoven’s First piano concerto. Not hint of a period like performance here but this was not a bad thing. Vogt’s playing was refined and full of individuality. Only in the first movement cadenza (Beethoven’s longest) did some heavily accentuated notes grate on the ear. The largo was deliciously elegant in shape and featured some lovely playing from the orchestra’s…