Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
Conductor: Mariss Jansons. Concert Hall, QPAC, Brisbane. 24-25 Nov 2013

What can I say that has not been said before? The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra was simply superb. It is one thing to listen to them on CD or watch them on DVD but you cannot grasp the full-picture of how good they really are until hearing them play live. I have rarely been so moved as much as I was last night with the sound conductor Mariss Janson produced from this venerable and legendary orchestra. It was a night to celebrate. Last night’s program Heroic comprised two popular works that not only allowed the orchestra to show off their combined skills but turned the spotlight on guest artist, pianist Yefim Bronfman and First Violinist Liviu Prunaru. Mr Bronfman’s performance of Beethoven’s Concerto No. 3 in C Minor Op 37 was always brilliant, always intense, and filled to the brim with passion. The second work, Richard Strauss’ tone poem Ein Heldenleden, written especially for the orchestra and dedicated to their original conductor Willem Mengelberg, gave Mr Prunaru a chance to display his virtuosity on violin with his solo passage in The Hero’s Companion section of the work overwhelmingly beautiful. There were two encores; a solo piano performance by Mr Bronfman of Chopin’s Etude in F Major, which was note and tone perfect, and the orchestra with Edward Grieg’s Solvieg’s Song from Peer Gynt that featured the full string section. Australia was the last leg of their world tour which has seen them play on six continents in one year, the first time any orchestra has achieved this. Are they the world’s greatest orchestra as Gramophone Magazine claims? That’s impossible to call, but they are the greatest that I have ever seen and I for one felt very privileged to have experienced them playing live. It was truly a performance to remember.

Peter Pinne 

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