Page 317 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

19 September 2022

FIRST NIGHT | CLASSICAL
RLPO/Domingo Hindoyan review —

a Mahler to remember

Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool

Domingo Hindoyan at the Philharmonic Hall in Liverpool
VICTOR SANTIAGO

★★★★☆

Their blood already stirred by blowing through the national anthem, the 13 extra brass players

sunk their lungs into the coruscating fanfares that launch Janacek’s Sinfonietta. The Royal
Liverpool Philharmonic’s new concert season — the second with Domingo Hindoyan as chief

conductor — couldn’t have got off to a more rousing start. How suitable, too, for a concert

dedicated to the memory of Rhys Owens, the orchestra’s former principal trumpet.

The brazen colourings continued throughout Janacek’s tersely worked creation. The flutes and

piccolo were almost frightening slithering though their high-pitched runs, though Hindoyan and

his willing players poured just as much passion and precision over the score’s quieter moments
of reflection. All in all, the Sinfonietta, so vigorous, jagged and bright, took us far away from