Photo, Andy Paradise
Wednesday, September 10, 2025
Royal Albert Hall, London
Once again, during these latter stages of this Proms season, a significant performance of a work arrived just before a Proms rendition of that piece, this time Rachmaninov’s Second Symphony, recently released on YouTube by the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra with Leonard Slatkin conducting, from January – fresh, spontaneous, full of good things, and reporting a close and immediate rapport between orchestra and conductor, for this was Slatkin’s debut with the TMSO (he’s been invited back for two years’ time). However, avoiding concert comparisons, Delyana Lazarova led the Rachmaninov spaciously from the off, brooding in the basses and cellos, suggesting a big and complex statement was underway, the exposition (repeated seamlessly) not indulged yet with much to impart, the Scottish strings displaying impressive depth of sound and expressive unanimity, Lazarova avoiding any temptation to rush, yet flexible as the Symphony’s development becomes tempestuous and, in its aftermath, nostalgic, the coda careering forth, with, thankfully, no additional instrument(s) added to the ultimate chord (Slatkin similarly), the scored lower strings sufficient. Lazarova swept through the Scherzo and was fully yearning/heart-on-sleeve in the second subject (arguably too much contrast, if gorgeously romantic) and the fugal Trio was pinpoint precise. The slow movement, of heavenly length, enjoyed a lovely clarinet solo from Yann Ghiro, and heartfelt ensemble phrasing, generously eloquent throughout, with the sun-goeth-down coda ineffably affecting, no surprise it took a while to start the Finale, exuberant, ardent, reflective and – after sixty-three minutes – triumphant. There are certain pieces, such as ‘Rach 2’, about which I wonder if I have heard them too often, then two renditions come along leaving in no doubt that I have not.
The evening opened with short-lived Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps (1918, the year of her death), which gets many outings these days (the Finnish Radio SO includes it in a live relay this Friday), attractive, urbane, with a darker seam of expression if essentially joyful and colourful, orchestrated with clarity, unmistakably French. Following which, Anastasia Kobekina (who is about to release a cornerstone of a cellist’s repertoire, Bach’s six Suites, on Sony Classical) played Shostakovich’s first movement with rasping intensity and rough-hewn attack, tartly accompanied (ideal), with commanding horn contributions from Christopher Gough, and then she brought ashen tone (appropriate) and depth of feeling to the sorrowful slow movement, emotionally burdened, unrelenting to the climax and a further hard-edged timpani stroke, and a complementary horn envoi. From there to the lengthy cadenza, which continues the musing and develops tempo and traverses frequency (low to high) into the wild Finale, a transition that Kobekina managed with poise, some deliberately craggy timbre (she’s unafraid to step outside of the customary), and with an assurance of arriving at the place where the orchestra returns, woodwinds let loose, timpani salvos adding to the gnarled high-speed thrill; a remarkable performance overall, Kobekina and Lazarova as-one. If there was to be an encore then it had to be Bach, and it was, the ‘Prelude’ of the G-major Suite (BWV1007) at once personal and private, yet speaking to all in the RAH and – I promise you – beyond it.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002hxkf
https://www.delyanalazarova.com