Filarmonica della Scala at the Philharmonie de Paris

Berio
Quattro versioni originali della Ritirata notturna di Madrid di L. Boccherini

Dvořák
Cello Concerto in B-minor. Op. 104

Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet, Op.64 – selections from the three Suites, Opp.64a, 64b &101

Gautier Capuçon (cello)

Filarmonica della Scala
Lorenzo Viotti

This concert was the fifth of a seven-city European tour. Riccardo Chailly took up the reins in 2015, but his indisposition enabledLorenzo Viotti to deputise.

His close relationship with the Milanese orchestra was immediately apparent in the Berio, an adaptation of a Boccherini string work written to evoke a procession of soldiers in the streets of Madrid. Berio’s version draws on all four versions Boccherini made. From its barely audible opening through to its equally hushed close, this performance splendidly conveyed the soldiers’ approach with accumulating layers (drums and fife vividly illuminated) and their eventual dispersal for the city’s evening curfew. It was given with panache, its gentle irony not lost on the players.

Gautier Capuçon gave a barnstorming account of Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, outlining the imperious and the heartfelt with grandeur and lyrical intensity. Rarely have I heard this work played with such emotional involvement, his passionate advocacy suggesting a relationship with a much-loved friend. Half-whispered, lingering phrases amid songful musing gave shape to the Adagio, its chamber scoring bringing out a mellifluous flute and some beguiling horn-playing. By contrast, the Finale was variously affectionate, rumbunctious and witty, the whole gloriously detailed and superbly paced, the orchestra outstanding collaborators.

As an encore, Filarmonica cellists and bassists joined Capuçon for an arrangement of ‘Lasst mich allein’ from Dvořák’s Vier Lieder (Op.82), reputedly a favourite of Josefina Kounicová, the composer’s sister-in-law who had died shortly after the completion of the Concerto. 

The pick-and-mix selection from the composer’s Romeo and Juliet Suites showed the orchestra on terrific form. There was no mistaking the swagger of Montagues and Capulets (2/1), the fairground jauntiness of Morning Dance (3/2) or the tenderness of the balcony scene (1/6). Nor was there any doubt about The Death of Tybalt (1/7), or The Death of Juliet (3/6). Polish and precision were the hallmarks of the playing, with Viotti an inspirational guide.