Tragic Overture, Op 81 - Brahms

Piano Concerto No 5 in C - Field

Piano Quartet in G minor - Brahms/Schoenberg

In Brahms's big orchestral works there is a sense of mighty power straining for release, like a Titan under Etna. So it was in the Tragic Overture in the NCH last Friday, even though the conductor Matthias Bamert, made sure the music kept moving and never got bogged down in its own profundity. Not until Schoenberg's arrangement of Brahms's Piano Quartet did the Titan win free and revel in the sunlight, giving expression to many moods.

Bamert caressed the lyrical sections, gave a lift to the dance-inspired episodes and brought out the full majesty of the composer's design; the NSO responded with a sharpness of attack and a precision of gesture that indicated their commitment. The final movement, in which Schoenberg has daringly and successfully given parts to a large percussion section, shows the light-hearted side of Brahms in a way that he would surely have recognised, even if he might have considered the expression a little frivolous. Bamert and the NSO had no qualms about joining in the festivity.

Between the two works by Brahms, Miceal O'Rourke played Field's Piano Concerto No 5 with a light and fluid touch, full of charm but never too much so. The episode in the first movement, which depicts a conflagration with the help of gong and bells is a remarkable piece of writing; it is a pity Field did not do more of this kind, but perhaps the ladies of St. Petersburg would only indulge him so far and no further. The conductor and orchestra played this very different sort of music with a welcome geniality.