Review: Philharmonia Orchestra, St Andrew’s Hall, Norwich

A capacity audience for the Philharmonia's visit to the festival, with the band on top form for a programme of popular repertoire.

Already established as an international artist, it was immediately apparent that young conductor Jeremie Rhorer had excellent rapport with his players in an exciting and atmospheric performance of Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, notable for some fine wind playing.

The soloist in Schumann's piano concerto was Francesco Piemontesi, another young artist with international credentials. It was a performance which combined both poetry and power, the intermezzo most sensitively done, and with superb accompanying from Rohrer throughout.

In the second half, Rohrer's reading of Wagner's great chamber orchestral work, Siegfried Idyll,was supremely sensitive, the orchestral sound ravishing, and once again, superb winds,especially clarinet and horns.

The finale was Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. Rohrer's tempo for the first movement was extremely fast, sometimes too fast for clarity of texture,and with nothing left for the piu animato at the end, but exciting nevertheless.

Frank Cliff

The concert was part of the Norfolk and Norwich Festival.