LSO/Pappano review – salty breezes and a balmy Mediterranean sunset

The Guardian

10-02-2025

'Behold, the sea itself,' declares Vaughan Williams's A Sea Symphony, but it could equally apply to any of the works in this carefully crafted concert of British music. The latest instalment in Antonio Pappano's ongoing odyssey opened with Elizabeth Maconchy, a gifted yet neglected contemporary of Shostakovich and Tippett, whose impressionistic Nocturne owed more of a debt to Holst and Debussy. A cinematic soundscape, complete with moody undertow and opulent climaxes, hinted at moon, clouds and waves in a spellbinding musical watercolour.
William Walton's Cello Concerto sings of warmer waters, especially the shimmering finale, which seems to end in a balmy Mediterranean sunset. The spirit of Prokofiev hovered over the ticking opening, Pappano and orchestra relishing the smouldering harmonies flecked with vibraphone, harp and celesta. LSO principal cello Rebecca Gilliver, a natural team player, was at her finest in the third movement where double stopping and extended trills were rendered with pinpoint accuracy. Elsewhere, she took a more self-effacing approach, a touch smudgy in the spiky scherzo, though always warm of tone.
Walt Whitman's metaphysical maritime poetry was the catalyst for Vaughan Williams's most operatic of symphonies. No surprise then that Pappano's 21 years helming the Royal Opera paid dividends in a thrilling performance of the composer's first symphony, his breakthrough work. As bracing fanfares issued a crisp call to arms and tempi broadened to accommodate impassioned choral entries you could feel the ocean's heaving breast and taste the salty breezes.
American baritone Will Liverman radiated an ardent sense of pride and purpose. The top of the voice could have used a little more amplitude, but his commitment to the poetry was never in doubt. South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha sang with creamy tone, enviable diction and a commanding confidence as she hurled forth a battery of gleaming top notes.
The London Symphony Chorus, singing with laser-focused discipline and an impressive homogeneity of sound, never put a foot wrong, from the briny tang of the scherzo through a series of goosebump-inducing a cappella sections. As Pappano guided ship and crew towards the distant horizon and its visionary conclusion, you could have heard a pin drop.