Brahms was not a composer to let a scherzo stand in the way of a serious piece of music. He didn't allow one so much as a look-in in any of his symphonies, and they are a rarity even in his chamber music. When he let his hair down and included one in his Second Piano Concerto, it was so un-scherzo-like that even he had to joke about it - "a tiny wisp of a scherzo" was his ironic description to a friend.
This concerto is a massive undertaking for any pianist. Nelson Goerner was up to the challenge: I counted a grand total of two wrong notes, and they were only split octaves, not proper mistakes. Nothing was taken for granted: each return of the first movement theme was a moment worth waiting for.
Goerner has the imagination to allow phrasing and pacing to absorb the strain, so that he never reaches the point where getting louder seems the only way of maintaining tension. Though intense, even the dark, elemental scherzo was never violent, and his ability to suspend all sense of time in the dreamlike adagio, partnered by Peter Dixon's cello, was spellbinding. Finally putting gravitas aside, Brahms allows his Gypsy themes to dominate the finale: Goerner toyed with each, holding it up to the light and letting it sparkle.
Bartok's Concerto for Strings, Percussion and Celeste is, as with Brahms's Concerto, a work written at the height of its composer's mature powers. Experimenting with what he called "melodic chromaticism", Bartok created one of the most haunting opening movements ever composed. The dark, twisting fugal theme has an inchoate, primeval quality which intensifies with each entry. However, a slight raggedness in the BBC Philharmonic's strings marred this movement, which never felt really secure. A little more bite would have given the piano part the sadistic glitter it needed in the brittle allegro.
The adagio fared better, its ghostly stalking theme atmospherically coloured by swirling piano, celeste and harp. The chromatic opening theme, gradually unfurling throughout, blossoms in the dance-like finale, which was exuberantly performed.
