RLPO play French Impressions at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall

It was the last concert of the Philharmonic’s main season and it produced a bit of a mixed bag of musical goodies.

Drawing heavily on French musical influences, with a bit of Barber thrown in for good measure, many of the pieces were evocations of balmy Mediterranean locations, perfectly suitable for an unusually sticky summer evening in Liverpool.

It’s hard to say which was the most attractive piece on the programme.

Ibert’s Escales certainly evoked some fantastically lively moments.

Ravel’s ever-fascinating Second Daphnis and Chloe Suite brought the whole season to a shattering conclusion.

And then there was the rarely-heard Third Violin Concerto from Saint-Saëns and an equally, if not more, unusual performance of Barber’s Meadea’s Mediation and the Dance of Vengeance.

Conductor Ludovic Morlot let the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra relax into a languid trance for the opening movement of the Ibert, subtitled Palermo. It was a beautifully fluid movement and suddenly burst into action.

The Middle Eastern influence of the Tunis movement – again laid back – contrasted with the Valencia portrait which drew to an explosive ending.

Violinist Alina Inragimova, making her RLPO début, opened the Saint-Saëns forcefully but the Allegro movement felt overly fussy.

The Andantino, with its exquisite ending combining violin harmonics with solo clarinet, was a fine exploration while the finale felt a lot more confident with a serene brass chorale towards the conclusion of the movement.

An intensely pensive and questioning opening to the Barber piece belied the way Morlot would build the work to a shattering finale.

The insistent rhythms in the dance section became almost mesmeric.

The huge orchestral reserves were used to great effect in a highly evocative performance of the Ravel.

The orchestration in this piece never fails to fascinate and, again, Morlot drew out a great deal of detail from the score.

Special mention should be made of the flutes in this work, called upon extensively in the course of the performance and living up to every expectation.

The only disappointment had to be a comparatively paltry audience. This has been a remarkable season, presenting Liverpool audiences with a highly varied programme and some stunning performances. The new season is eagerly awaited.

Read the review at Liverpool Daily Post online here.