Jurowski/ London Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Festival Hall, 27th September 2019
From the string sighs of “Désir”, the first of Oliver Knussen’s Scriabin Settings, to the hollow rasp of the double basses’ dying growls in the Pathétique, this was a concert to strain the ears. Vladimir Jurowski, opening the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s new season, forced us to listen – and concentrate – hard, paring dynamics to the merest whisper. In the first movement of his Sixth Symphony, Tchaikovsky asks the bassoonist to play four descending notes pppppp, a marking so impossible it’s usually passed – as here – to the bass clarinettist. One suspected Jurowski wanted it even quieter.
London Philharmonic Orchestra
© Ben Ealovega
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