A precious asset of the Leipzig ensemble, as amply demonstrated in its Brahms series, is the wide coloristic range it can call on to present the broad yet nuanced emotional territory of such monumental late-Romantic scores. In a programme that followed the Third Symphony with the First Piano Concerto, the string tone's tensile strength regularly conveyed searing intensity without compromising its gleaming surface, while the distinctive, often highly flavoured character of the wind solos – lovingly shaded in by conductor Riccardo Chailly as he negotiated the many awkward corners where one idea gives way to another – was frequently outstanding.
In the symphony, the opening movement's heroic tensions were vividly recreated, but Chailly continued to maintain an unobtrusive sense of momentum throughout the gentler middle movements; only in the finale would keener articulation of the music's vehemence have been welcome. In the concerto, meanwhile, Pierre-Laurent Aimard brought clarity and command to the hugely demanding solo part, even if his relatively distanced approach sometimes felt at odds with the orchestra's no-holds-barred Sturm und Drang manner.
The final programme rose more consistently to the heights, beginning with a performance of the Violin Concerto in which soloist Leonidas Kavakos seemed to weigh each individual note in the balance before placing it carefully in its rightful position in the work's overall trajectory. Chailly and the orchestra matched him in an account that repeatedly touched the sublime.
Their interpretation of the Fourth Symphony operated on a similarly exalted level. Once again, Chailly's ability to keep the music in a constant state of motion was exceptional, as was the way in which he joined the individual sections of the final passacaglia up into a single, organically developing statement, setting the seal on his overview of the work as a whole.
• Did you catch this show – or any other recently? Tell us about it using #gdnreview
