"Britain's national orchestra" proclaims the cover of the Royal Philharmonic's programme booklet. What does it mean though - that the orchestra should be regarded and safeguarded as a national treasure, or that its enforced peripatetic existence takes it to parts of the country ignored by its snootier London cousins - and who is it meant to impress?
Last night the RPO made one of its infrequent appearances on the South Bank conducted by Thomas Sanderling, a late replacement for the stricken Daniele Gatti, in a thoroughly traditional programme - overture, concerto, symphony - and not only all by Brahms, but minor key Brahms at that.
It was not a great evening in any respect. On this evidence the RPO is an efficient enough orchestra, responsive and cohesive, but without a great deal of character to its playing.
In the Festival Hall's measly acoustic, the strings sounded steely and cool rather than generously warm, while to my ears at least, the wind section seemed to be consistently sharp of them.
Whether with a more inspirational conductor they might have made a better fist of all three works is hard to say. But Sanderling did not really seize upon any of the programme he had inherited and make it speak in a personal or characterful way.
His readings tended to begin promisingly, on an adrenalin rush, but then to sag disconcertingly in the middle. The tragic overture soon lost its impetus, and lapsed into the dreariness that only that particular work can suggest, while at the opposite end of the over-long programme the first symphony began and ended with rugged energy, as well as a alighting upon some intriguing detail in the central pair of movements, without ever emerging as a performance with anything special to say for itself.
The soloist in the first piano concerto had been Garrick Ohlsson, who certainly possesses all the necessary heft for the work, but not the softer-contoured intimacy that the slow movement especially demands. Ohlsson's way of punching out themes, and the rather shallow, edgy sound he produced made everything aggressive rather than ear-catching.
