RSNO & Elisabeth Leonskaja, Glasgow review: 'truly inspirational'

A little more than a year short of her 80th birthday, pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja remains a bastion of the older generation Russian-trained virtuoso tradition. Her style is deeply personalised, in a sense detached from her surroundings while immersed in her own uncompromising vision of the score. Most often she delights; sometimes she baffles. On Saturday, appearing in Beethoven’s ‘Emperor’ Concerto with the RSNO under Thomas Søndergård, she was truly inspirational.

It’s a concerto that does the rounds frequently but in this case felt rediscovered, filled with thoughtful, even teasing, revelations. Leonskaja imbued it with a sense of mystery. Sure, there was truculent pomp in the titanic opening chords, heart-stopping lyricism in the central Adagio, throwaway joy in the finale. But what about those moments where Leonskaja sprang her many surprises?

The unfolding of the first movement found her repeatedly suppressing the solo line to whispered reflections, giving space to instrumental details that often get lost in the mix. A similar generosity drew out exceptional subtleties in the slow movement and an unusually dark and dreamy luminosity from which the final Rondo was an awakening release, drawing breath only for that momentary lull of the piano-timpani duet, mesmerisingly delivered.

If the RSNO revealed its golden lucidity in the Beethoven, that was predictable after a first half that saw it reduced to Classical proportions, delivering performances of Haydn and the 18th century black French-African composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges with the intimate precision and scintillating crispness of a crack chamber band.

Perfection informed every expressive gesture. Saint-Georges’ Overture to his only extant comic opera, L’amant anonyme, oozed boisterous simplicity and charm. Haydn’s ‘Bear’ Symphony thrilled at every level, fiery and lusty one minute, sighing and tender the next. All in all, a stylistically and musically exceptional concert.