Page 172 - Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Coverage Book 2023-24

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s eclectic programme for the penultimate Prom of
the summer bore the stamp of Domingo Hindoyan, who took over as chief conductor
two years ago and has been expanding its repertoire in new directions. The two main
works, though, were reliable Proms hall-fillers. In Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No 3
the soloist was Nobuyuki Tsujii, his playing urgent in the opening movement then
densely textured in the second, as if in response to the thick, velvety sound Hindoyan
coaxed from the strings during their big melody. Perhaps the finale lacked something of
the music’s playfulness, but the robust propulsion of Tsujii’s playing counted for much.
Afterwards Hindoyan helped Tsujii (who has been blind since birth) pick his way back
through the violins to the piano for his encore – the Concert Etude Op 40 No 1 by
Nikolai Kapustin, two minutes of gleefully manic jazziness thrown off by Tsujii with
irresistible poise and spark.

With the World Cup beginning on the other side of the Channel, the concert-opener was
a topical rarity: Rugby, a short and celebratory 1928 piece by Arthur Honegger. It’s a
picture of the exhilaration of an idealised game – no breaks for scrums or throw-ins
here – balletic in an angular, Stravinskian way, with melodies that leap and bound. A
casual listener wouldn’t have found its subject obvious – but one could say the same
tenfold about Clara, a 2021 work by the Mexican composer Gabriela Ortiz receiving its
first UK performance. Ortiz’s note explains that her five-movement piece is inspired by
the two Schumanns, Clara and Robert, their relationship, and Ortiz’s response to them.
But it’s too sidelong and subjective to hear it as the portrait its title suggests. The
soundworld of melting, sliding string lines, uneasy harmonies and itchy, insistent
percussion is all Ortiz’s own, a world away from either Schumann.

Back on familiar ground, the Symphonic Dances from Bernstein’s West Side Story were
snappily played, showcasing some stylish work from the RLPO’s trumpets and