Dvořák Overture (Vanda)
R. Schumann Cello Concerto
Brahms Symphony no. 1
Kian Soltani (Cello)
Leonidas Kavakos (Conductor)
07 May 2026, Royal Festival Hall. Southbank Centre
The latest instalment of the Philharmonia’s 80th birthday season was a celebration of the romantic
era.
Antonín Dvořák spent his career aspiring to be a successful opera composer; with the
exception of Rusalka, they are barely performed. Based on the performance of the overture
to Vanda, this seems a great pity. An opening in rhythmic unison gives way to an expansive,
lyrical theme shared by pairs of winds in thirds. Like all opera overtures, it condenses
suggestions of the whole piece into a 10-minute appetiser. This evening’s stirring account
left me ready to seek out the main course.
Robert Schumann wrote his cello concerto towards the end his career and it combines some
lively, jaunty passages with dark and anguished sections that perhaps presage Schumann’s
mental collapse which followed four years later. The particularly expressive playing of Kian
Soltani heightened the contrasts. I particularly enjoyed his treatment of the duplets against
triplets in the second movement, along with the duet section with orchestra’s principal cellist.
The third movement, marked Sehr lebhalt (very lively) fizzed along with tremendous energy
from the soloist, leaping from end to end of the cello’s range with sensational virtuosity.
For an encore Soltani (an Austrian of Persian descent) selected the folk song Girl from
Shiraz by the Iranian composer Reza Vali – a haunting, wistful piece played over a
continuous pedal Bb in the cello section providing a reflective moment for these difficult
times.
Johanes Brahms’s first symphony was over 25 years in the making and has two sombre outer
movements bookending much lighter second and third movements. Here the light and shade
of the opening movement was particularly well rendered, the punctuation of the timps and
basses driving the energy forward without forcing their way through – a tricky balance to get
right.
The lush string tones of the second movement underpinned beautiful wind solos, especially
from principal oboe Steven Hudson, whilst the Arcadian feel of the third movement,
morphing through to its more agitated passages were excellently presented.
The fourth movement, with its strong nod to Beethoven’s 9 th symphony and with the timps
bringing a cyclical finish to the piece brought the concert to its triumphant conclusion.
Conductor Leonadis Kavakos has an unusual technique. Baton-free, he moulds and sculpts
the sound rather than directing it, with at times what seems to be an almost casual
approach. This gives the orchestra more freedom to just – play. And it works, a bright, joyous
sound was achieved throughout. I look forward to the next collaboration.
