BPO – The European Connection – Junyan Chen (piano), Barry Wordsworth (conductor)

This programme was full of the promise of Spring. Mendelssohn, the perfect feel-good composer, countered a wet Sunday afternoon with the invigorating charm of his concert overture ‘The Hebrides’. The bright fanfares of its final chords gave way to the elegance of Fauré’s ‘Pavane, op.50’, with Christine Messiter’s sensuous flute and the woodwind playing over the pizzicato strings. It was a gentle, meditative moment before the fun and games of Ravel’s ‘Piano Concerto in G’.

From its startling whip-crack beginning to the scintillating thrill of the finale, this excited every bone in my body. Junyan Chen is a delightful blend of delicacy and fire, her assured playing seeming to keep the jazzy orchestra in order. It’s no wonder there was enthusiastic applause after the first movement.

The serenity of the Adagio calmed the atmosphere but not the tension which then erupted into the helter-skelter of the Presto.

When the ecstatic ovation had eased we were treated to an encore of more astonishing virtuosity, Dohnanyi’s ‘Etude no.5’, a flourish of rippling sequences that Ravel would have envied.

We are so lucky to hear Junyan Chen in Brighton while she is still studying with Joanna MacGregor, the BPO’s Music Director. Her international career is bound to take her far but we can hope she will return, soon and often.

After the interval, leader Janice Graham and the soloists of the orchestra, who had shone so brightly in the concerto, had their own focus in Ravel’s ‘Mother Goose Suite’. They certainly rose to the many challenges of Ravel’s intricate orchestration. Mendelssohn’s ‘Italian Symphony’ resolved the afternoon with its broad romantic themes, allowing us to enjoy a full symphony orchestra under a supremely sensitive, poetic conductor.

Dome Concert Hall
13 February 2022
Rating:
Andrew Connal