22nd August 2014
Royal Albert Hall, London, United Kingdom
TOMASSON Magma
SCHUMANN Piano Concerto
LEIFS Geysir
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 5
Jonathan Biss (piano)
Iceland Symphony Orchestra
Ilan Volkov (conductor)
I always find it very touching that a symphony can still get an audience, regardless of age and musical background, to erupt in applause, natural joy and excitement 200 years after its composition, and such was the case after an excellent performance of Beethoven 5 by the Iceland SO. This simple case of musical magic is particularly potent if you consider that it was conducted by the anti-war Israeli conductor of Ukrainian and German ancestry, Ilan Volkov. The program also featured two curious Icelandic works - Tómasson's "Magma" which saw a continuously evolving soundscape that at one point involved the tuba and the trombone battling it out in a toccata against a vast array of percussion and piano which recall the birdsongs of Messiaen; and Leifs' "Geysir" which featured two sets of timpanies going at each other à la Nielsen 4. The concert was crowned by an eruption of passion in the form of the Schumann PC, gracefully handled by Jonathan Biss, who played the flowery arpeggios with such effortless tenderness that gave the concerto a rare chamber-like intimacy, which was all so fabulous and precious in the vast RAH. All in all, a thoroughly stunning Prom. Volkov was so passionate about the music he knocked down his score mid-performance.
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