LPO/Jurowski, Royal Festival Hall, London (original) (raw)

After the euphoria brought about by the reopening of the Festival Hall, we need, perhaps, a period of adjustment. Stunning though it was, the London Philharmonic Orchestra's first full-length concert, with its music director Vladimir Jurowski, was hampered by moments of imprecise balance, a reminder that musicians as well as listeners need time to accommodate themselves to the new acoustic, with its combination of merciless clarity and greater resonance.

The opening work was Schnittke's (K)ein Sommernachtstraum, an essay in postmodern irony that also serves as a massive test of dynamic control. The music moves from spectral whisper to dissonant shriek. The textures, dense yet refined, can clot. It was beautifully done, with the sound seeming to vibrate into the space with a natural warmth and ease.

A tendency for the brass to overpower the strings, however, was discernible at the climaxes, a problem that resurfaced later in the evening, when Jurowski turned to Prokofiev's Fifth Symphony, the work with which he made his LPO debut in 2001. Yet it remains one of his finest interpretations, full of irony, warmth and startling weight, and the LPO negotiated Prokofiev's cruel orchestral writing with dexterous ease.

Mozart's stormy D minor Piano Concerto, K466, was an altogether more equivocal experience. Imogen Cooper was the soloist in a performance at once lucid and grand, though it was here that one was most conscious of slips in balance. Jurowski repositioned the orchestra so that the double basses were centre stage rather than to the audience's right. The end result sounded bass-heavy and overly weighted down. Throughout, the LPO were obviously delighted to be back in the RFH, but they also need time to get the measure of the refurbished building.