This engaging festival concert had to overcome some early disappointment before the first note sounded.
Conductor Daniel Harding pulled out of the role, changing the shape of the concert somewhat.
Piano soloist Leif Ove Andsnes agreed to play and direct the Mozart Piano Concerto Number 20 from his keyboard.
The landscape of the Bruckner Symphony Number 3 changed a little, with stand-in conductor Claus Peter Flor preferring to take the third version, written in 1889 and edited by Austrian musicologist Leopold Nowak in 1959, instead of the planned first version.
The Mozart piece is so familiar to musicians that Andsnes was pretty well able to concentrate on his own enthralling playing, while the orchestra confidently brought out the contrasts and sheer delight of this spirited and delightful composition.
Andsnes silkily distilled the lyricism at the heart of Mozart’s writing but also conveyed its sheer pulsating energy of life, especially in the riveting Rondo.
The musicians and Flor brought out the finer detail from the musical maze that is the Bruckner piece.
This over-long symphony still mystifies many, but the orchestra’s magnificent performance brought out its majestic moments, with the brass controlled yet forceful in brilliantly delivering Bruckner’s highly personal musical message.
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