Erica Jeal 

VPO/Barenboim; BBC Singers/Hill

/ 3 stars BBC Singers/Hill Royal Albert Hall, London
  
  


No other orchestra glories in the association with the music of its home city as the Vienna Philharmonic; but this performance of Schubert's Fifth Symphony by chamber-sized forces under Daniel Barenboim reinforced the idea that this ensemble is at its best when it wears that association lightly.

It began with a gossamer, almost throwaway gesture, the violins descending into the main melody in a fluid ripple. It continued with energy and elegance, but with just a touch of self-consciousness. The way Barenboim made the key changes tell in the slow movements, or unleashed a new injection of vigour and muscle in the finale was undeniably effective, but we waited in vain for the return of the sparkling insouciance of the opening.

If some spark was missing from the Schubert, it was there for Bruckner's monumental Fourth Symphony, which brought around twice as many players on to the stage. Taut rhythms underpinned by tick-tocking basses kept the momentum going through Bruckner's immense timespans. While groups of players, especially the violas, went all out in their solo passages, Barenboim initially kept a check on the full ensemble sound. This meant that even after the bombast of the powerhouse third movement, the beginning of the finale still had the ability to surprise us with its new intensity - and the final crescendo was irresistible.

The late Prom could not really decide whether it was for organ aficionados or choral-music lovers. But John Scott's fluent playing of seven organ pieces by Bach's antecedent Buxtehude, on the Albert Hall's indulgently large instrument, will have pleased the former. The BBC Singers under David Hill were vivid if slightly plummy in Britten's Hymn to Saint Cecilia, and captured all the multi-textural colour in Domenico Scarlatti's 10-part Stabat Mater.

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