Review: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra *****

IF Bruckner's epic Eighth Symphony was to be the concert's main course, it was the aperitif, Wagner's Siegfried Idyll, that proved absolutely delectable.
By The Newsroom
Published 29th Jan 2010, 10:08 BST
Updated 29th Jan 2010, 10:09 BST

Played with the same handful of instruments that had been assembled at the bottom of the staircase on the birthday morning of Wagner's wife, it had that love and tenderness you miss in the expanded orchestral version.

The playing of the BBC Scottish was magical, the wind weaving a web of sound around the string quintet, every strand so wonderfully clear and lucid.

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It came as a foil to the outpouring of strength that was to erupt in the Bruckner, though in the hands of the orchestra's recently appointed and much distinguished conductor, Donald Runnicles, there was nothing exaggerated or overblown, layer upon layer added to achieve the most monumental climatic moments, the brass immaculately balanced to produce the sonority of a giant organ.

You will see few string sections working so hard, yet the performance will probably be best remembered for the transparent and thistledown quality of the whispered quiet passages.

With the orchestra applauding Runnicles with the same enthusiasm as the audience, you felt it was at the beginning of the most golden era of its history.

Leeds Town Hall