For a conductor to have a comet named after him could imply one of two things: that his career is starry and unstoppable, or that he is burning out fast and leaving a trail of debris in his wake. Vladimir Spivakov, well known in his native Russia as a violinist and director of the Moscow Soloists, inclines towards the former, but might more appropriately have lent his name to something a bit more solid and steady - a planet, say. His largely dispassionate conducting of the City of London Sinfonia only intermittently made sparks fly.
Schnittke's Concerto for Piano and Strings did benefit from his firm authority; the strings sounded confident in this infrequently performed work and effectively put across the differing inflections of blues, dance and church music. Clusters of notes were built up imperceptibly, making a distorting lens through which the piano's more lyrical phrases were heard. Julian Gallant played the solo part with heavy conviction, pushing at the louder edge of the piano's dynamic range.
However, Spivakov's detachment did not lend itself so well to Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht; this is desperate music, one step away from the sound of Romanticism collapsing in on itself, and it demands a sense of abandon. Spivakov's cool approach kept the piece free of sentiment but often robbed it of fluidity, and musical turning points were overly hurried. Faced with this hugely difficult score, the orchestra seemed less assured and their range of expression narrowed; there was none of the barely audible, whispered playing we had heard in the Schnittke.
Conductor and orchestra alike were more at ease with Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings. Strong, vibrant playing announced the initial Andante, while in the waltz movement Spivakov finally seemed to loosen up, allowing the music to sparkle and bringing out the interplay between the instruments. An exhilarating Russian dance brought the finale careering to its close.
An arrangement of Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring was an odd choice of encore - it seemed to have an instrument missing, making it a chorale prelude without half of the chorale. After all that had gone before, to end on this serene yet hackneyed piece seemed a cop-out.
