Page 339 - Liverpool Philharmonic 22-23 Season Coverage Book

9 November 2022
Seascapes and Mountains: Royal

Liverpool Philharmonic

On a grey, drizzly day in the city, a packed Philharmonic Hall is ready to escape the gloom
outside for an aural expedition that will take us from the wilds of the Scottish Hebrides to the
heights of Swiss Alps.

Conductor Laureate (and ‘honorary Scouser’ as of 2009) Vasily Petrenko is greeted like an all-
conquering hero and doesn’t hesitate to whisk us off on the first part of our journey as the familiar
strains of Mendelssohn’ Hebrides overture, ‘Fingal’s Cave’ fill the hall.

Petrenko is so ‘at one’ with his orchestra, it’s as if he never left. The magnificent harmonies swell
together to bring the vast arches and columns of Staffa’s famous sea cave, and Mendelssohn’s
musical inspiration, to life. The swaying of conductor and orchestra alike mirrors the waves that
one can picture crashing around the cave’s mouth.

We are then joined by star German Cellist Alban Gerhardt for Hadyn’s Cello Concerto in D. For a
piece that is usually described as soothing, he bows like a man possessed, enjoying wonderful
camaraderie with his fellow strings (as well as fine support from two horns and oboes) as he
sweeps from the allegro to the adagio and back again into the rondo.

Photo: Ben Wright