For this concert, the Philharmonia united two of Russia's great musical individuals: the eccentric conductor Alexander Lazarev and the unpredictable pianist Mikhail Pletnev, who seems to bring a buzz to every performance.
Pletnev can be a moody performer, and at first it seemed, ominously, that he was feeling especially stubborn. But after the stage manager had come on stage to wipe an offending spot of something off his piano stool, Pletnev sat down to a thoughtful performance of Chopin's First Concerto - a youthful work here given a mature, considered slant that stayed on the right side of affectation, if only just.
Few phrases were left to speak for themselves: in the opening movement, the second theme, so innocently introduced by the clarinet, returned highly coloured and perhaps a little too knowing in the piano. But the capricious twirls of the slow movement suggested Pletnev was not about to take the work too seriously, and even in the finale - a rondo, by definition repetitive - there was always a sense that something surprising might happen.
Some conductors make their art appear refined, or at least occasionally graceful. Put Lazarev in front of an orchestra, however, and he looks like a man deranged, all bendy-legged agitation and wild eyes. Yet what seems an undisciplined style of conducting has its results.
It was Tchaikovsky's Fourth Symphony that formed the concert's orchestral showpiece. At times one felt that Lazarev would have liked more responsiveness from the orchestra: the wind passages in the third movement didn't have quite the heavy swing he seemed to be asking for. But the fourth movement was a tour de force.
The beginning burst out like an explosion. What followed was a bravura orchestral display, the interruptions by the symphony's pervading fate theme sounding cataclysmic. The final pages wound up to breaking point before Lazarev finished it all off with a leap so maniacal that he landed facing the audience. Previous movements may have had their rough edges, but this finale was charged enough to sweep such considerations from our minds.
