Just 18 months after the in-house political furore that rocked Milan's opera house, the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala has completed its third international tour. This whirlwind visit to Irish, English and Welsh cities with conductor Riccardo Chailly was a short-haul one, but here was an orchestra that has left its troubles far behind. Unalloyed pleasure on the faces of players, frequent mutual approbation during the performance and Chailly's ample acknowledgement of principals, sections and rank and file alike communicated such positive vibrations as to send the Cardiff audience out into the night on a strong high.
Chailly's musicianship was key. In a wholly Italian first half, the clarity of detail in Rossini's overture La Gazza Ladra emerged as fresh and incisive. Rossini's characteristic crescendo was perfectly executed, and then realised again with altogether more fearsome discipline in the final section of Respighi's tonepoem Pini di Roma. In retrospect, the preceding serenity of Puccini's Cristatemi - the string orchestra version of his usually funereal quartet - suggested a symbolic burying of old scores. Chailly's juxtaposition of Respighi with Stravinsky's The Firebird, in the full ballet version, was classic orchestral showcasing, but the composers' respective debt to their teacher Rimsky-Korsakov was also carefully underlined, particularly the finesse of woodwind writing and the shimmering textures. But, with trumpets positioned high at the back of the auditorium creating a thrilling sweep of sound, it was the sheer theatricality of Chailly's approach to Stravinsky that made this such an unforgettably vivid interpretation.
