Star rating: ***
Dare I suggest that Glasgow City Council and the RSNO, in a 50/50 deal that resulted in two concerts in Kelvingrove Art Gallery on Friday and Saturday nights, might be on to something? Both concerts sold out, standing room included.
The main point at the concert however, where American conductor JoAnn Falletta made an impressive, dynamic, and well-paced debut with the orchestra, was this: Of the many concerts held in Kelvingrove over the years, none have been entirely successful because of the massive reverberation in the cavernous main hall.
This one was the best of the lot, perhaps because the programme seemed carefully chosen. It had to be, because the main hall of Kelvingrove is not just a reverberation chamber: it is a non-electrical megawatt amplifier. Never has Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man sounded like this. The folk around me were pinned to their seats by the noise. The Copland was tailor-made for this space.
More surprisingly, Hamish MacCunn's Land of the Mountain and the Flood was richly enhanced by the generous acoustic. The beautiful opening flute solo apart, the same could not be said for Debussy's Petite Suite, much of which was no more than a wash, thereas Mendelssohn's Scottish Symphony, though big-boned in the gigantic space, demonstrated Falletta's fine control of tension and breadth. Much food for thought in this interesting venture.
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