Returning to the orchestra whose principal conductor he was for a decade (he is now its honorary conductor for life), Christoph von Dohnányi brought the Philharmonia’s London season to an end with this programme of Bartók, Mozart and Beethoven.
Bartók’s Divertimento for strings, written in 1939 immediately before the outbreak of the second world war, came first. Conveying something essentially amusing, the title fits the folk-influenced outer movements better than the central adagio, which is one of the composer’s night-pieces, suggesting the sounds of nocturnal nature as experienced in the Great Hungarian Plain, though there is often – as here – something uneasy and disturbing about the result.
Dohnányi and his players had the measure of it, drawing out the inner tensions of music composed in the imminent shadow of war, yet holding on to the vitality of Hungary’s rural traditions at the same time. The playing was lithe yet passionate, with some persuasive standout lines fielded by the ensemble’s guest leader, Tomo Keller.
Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante had two excellent soloists: violinist Arabella Steinbacher and violist Lawrence Power. They proved well matched, especially in terms of tone and phrasing, passing ideas back and forth with scarcely a break in gestural integrity, even if the sheer character of Power’s playing arguably won on points.
After the interval came a grand interpretation of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony, whose unending impetus – even the slow movement combines the feeling of a dance with that of a funeral march – was maintained in every single bar of this reading.
Dohnányi may be just a couple of months shy of his 86th birthday, but his ability to energise a score and keep it light on its feet remains entirely undiminished.
