Sunday, September 21, 2025

Grand Palace Hall, Ion Câmpineanu 28, Bucharest, Romania

A rollicking account of Enescu’s timeless Romanian Rhapsody, Opus 11/1, to open, the RCO and Klaus Mäkelä nicely flexible and characterful in the opening measures and terrific in the rest, a scintillating start to the concert with music that travels so openly and enjoyably outside of its country of origin, here returned by this great Dutch orchestra with affection and glee, received enthusiastically by the audience. One cautionary word: Celibidache.

Also boundary-crossing with ease, the Fifth and final of Saint-Saëns’s Piano Concertos, the ‘Egyptian’, written in Luxor. Jean-Yves Thibaudet gave a wonderful account, totally idiomatic, lyrically lovely, and invigorating in faster music, technically flawless, never less than smitten with the score, the RCO and Mäkelä just as appreciative of the music’s charms, local colour and animation. Whether a Chopin Nocturne or a Liszt Liebestraum – sorry not to know – Thibaudet’s encore was ravishing.

Following the interval, Stravinsky’s Sacre was cued by an eloquent bassoon solo, ripe woodwind contributions taking the music forward, thawing it from Winter to its successor season, cueing rhythmic bite and vivid details, a bit too much for the broadcaster, restricting the loudest dynamics and somewhat relegating timpani and bass drum to where they were visually positioned in the venue. Nevertheless, Mäkelä’s eyes revealed his involvement with the score, his gyrations and dancing feet were entwined with the music, his smiles coordinated delight in the audio and the RCO’s response, with the opening of Part Two being unusually sinister, and if impulsiveness was sometimes fracturing continuity then Mäkelä certainly took the players with him, all incidents leading to a propulsive ‘Sacrificial Dance’, given, as in Berlin recently, with a nonchalance regarding changes of metre, and with a properly preparatory pause (freeze) before the maiden hits the floor, D-E-A-D, with a lifeless thud.

Republication for Celibidache’s conducting of Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No.1.

BBC Proms 2025 – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (1) – Klaus Mäkelä conducts Berio’s Rendering and Mahler Five. Live on BBC Radio 3.

BBC Proms 2025 – Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (2) – Klaus Mäkelä conducts Mozart’s ‘Paris’ Symphony & Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, with Janine Jansen playing Prokofiev’s Violin Concerto No.1. Live on BBC Radio 3.

BBC Proms 2025 – Scottish Chamber Orchestra. Maxim Emelyanychev conducts Beethoven’s Fifth, Les Indes galantes, and Bruckner’s Skull, with Alexandre Kantorow playing Saint-Saëns’s ‘Egyptian’ Piano Concerto. Live on BBC Radio 3.

Berliner Philharmoniker – François­-Xavier Roth conducts Boulez, Adámek, and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. Live Digital Concert Hall webcast.