When Riccardo Chailly left the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam in 2004 for the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, he exchanged one of the great orchestras, which he had maintained at the top of the international tree for 16 years, for one whose greatness had been in abeyance for some time. He has wasted no time, however, in restoring the lustre of what is reckoned to be the world's oldest orchestra: their appearance together at the Barbican, their first as one of the centre's international associates, was a dazzling exhibition, in repertory far removed from what you think of as the Leipzigers' usual Austro-German fare.
I'd guess Respighi's music, especially, doesn't appear often at the Gewandhaus, but Chailly ended with a thrilling account of Pines of Rome, full of bewitching orchestral colours and textures, with sumptuously cushioned strings and brilliant woodwind detail. It was worked to a ferocious military climax in the final section, though the recording of the nightingale in the third section didn't sound much like the birds Respighi would have known in the city.
Chailly's ability to stage manage climaxes so precisely made his account of Tchaikovsky's symphonic fantasia Francesca da Rimini an extraordinary experience, too – a work that is so easy to make empty and meretricious became a psycho-drama, worked to a genuinely tragic climax. Tchaikovsky had started the concert, as well – a performance of the First Piano Concerto with Arcadi Volodos as soloist, making a rare London appearance. Volodos is a frustrating player, technically remarkable – the perfectly weighted evenness of much of his playing was a marvel – but apparently unable to convey real expressiveness. That had to come from Chailly and the orchestra, and they didn't fail.
