Helena Wood with the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall, February 20 2015

Jonas Alber, the last-minute replacement for a sick Alan Buribayev, was landed with a huge task: one of the most satisfying programmes of the season, but also one of the longest and most difficult ones. There can’t be many people in the world who could conduct this music a day at short notice, and the orchestra’s management deserve plaudits for pulling it off.

The concert opens with Beethoven’s Fidelio Overture, bringing the orchestra’s journey through the composers four attempts at opening his only opera to an end. Alber is steeped in the Germanic tradition, with engagements at many top German orchestras performing core repertoire, and his interpretation of Beethoven has a typically taut intensity. Helena Wood, the orchestra’s popular leader, is the soloist tonight for the monumental Violin Concerto in D, also by Beethoven. Like two other recent solo violinists with this orchestra, she plays from the music rather than by memory. Unlike the previous two, her performance never invites the assumption that she uses the music because she hasn’t had time to practise: her performance verges on flawless. Her tuning is perfect, and her tone (sweet, unforced) and imperceptible bow changes are carried by a superb technique. The orchestra seem sluggish at times in the opening movement, which is of extreme length and can lull in all but the best performances.

The second half is occupied by Richard Strauss’ Eine Alpensinfonie, the sort of piece that excites even the most seasoned orchestral players. With 99 players and one conductor taking part, a cynic could argue that it’s only popular because of the employment opportunities it brings. This extraordinary piece, a hybrid between symphony and tone poem (cast in one movement of twenty two continuous sections), is a tour de force of orchestration, a work where a seasoned concert-goer can stare, baffled, at the stage trying to work out what is making that noise. This performance is full of colour, power and beauty. Some highlights include Graham Hastings’ magnificent trumpet solos and, with Helena Wood on concerto duty, a gorgeous violin duet from Elaine Clark and Sebastian Liebig. Alber has a great impact on the orchestra, look out for his return.

Programme:

Beethovn – Fidelio Overture

Beethoven – Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 61

Strauss – Eine Alpensinfonie