The glow of anticipation generated by concert-goers about to bear witness to the renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra might be a spectacle in itself.
As the auditorium filled with animated chatter the sense of expectation in the air was delicious.
Up first was Mendelssohn’s Overture, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Coloured by mischievousness from the outset, the strings conjured Shakespeare’s forest and sprites with much humour before the jubilant joining-in of the full orchestra.
Violin Concerto by Aram Khachaturian followed. Soloist Kristóf Baráti cut a serious figure throughout the imperious piece, his concentration admirably unswayed by a potentially ticklish experience - a broken bow-string dancing around his face by the end of the first movement.
Drenched in its gory Shakespearian themes of power, greed, ambition, madness and murder, the orchestra’s synergy really arrived with Richard Strauss’ Macbeth, Op 23.
The ice-cream munching audience’s appreciation became truly manifest.
When the orchestra conspired to take us on a rollercoaster-esque journey through motifs including Good, Evil, Love, Death and Magical Feathers with Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite we made an inelegantly rapt crowd indeed, eventually going wild for conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the London Philharmonic’s transporting abilities.
Four stars
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