It’s a measure of the strength of the relationship that Dennis Russell Davies has with his Basel Symphony Orchestra that their short British tour, plus a date in Dublin, features slightly different programmes at each venue. Most visiting ensembles play safer.
At Cheltenham, they began with Mozart’s Symphony in G major, No 32, whose form is more overture than symphony, though the young Amadeus was categoric in his title and wrote for an unusually big wind lineup, with four horns. Davies shaped crisp phrasing; there was only minimal string vibrato but plenty of character.
Alice Sara Ott was the soloist in Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G and, since Ravel’s admiration for Mozart knew no bounds, this was a natural pairing. A slight unsteadiness dogged the first movement, but Ott’s gently understated approach to the Adagio captured its misty lyricism, though she was whizzing round the keyboard by the finale.
The most awkward aspect was that for much of the audience, bar those in the gallery, Ott was well-nigh invisible. Needing to marshal massive forces for their main work, Stravinsky’s Le Sacré du Printemps, strings and woodwind were playing at floor level along with the piano. Only a sheen of Ott hair and the flash of silver on her right index finger matched up with the sound.
The Basel musicians’ corporate discipline overcame the disadvantage, but this languidly French take on Stravinsky was at times almost sedate. Davies – a curious presence on the podium, inscrutable with occasional flowery flourishes of the baton – made the ballet’s ritual thread somewhat tame. Instead, this became a night for the percussion: the relatively empty stage beneath gave their every blow extra reverberation, fierce and raw.
• At Cadogan Hall, London, 28 September. Box office: 020-7730 4500.
