Christoph von Dohnanyi's brief exploration of German romanticism with the Philharmonia ended on Tuesday. In this third concert Schumann supplied the concerto (the familiar one for piano, in A minor), Mendelssohn the symphony (the Italian) and Brahms the introductory work (his St Anthony Variations). Dohnanyi may be more regularly associated with a later brand of central European romanticism - the repertoire bracketed by Wagner and Berg - but he has also recorded the symphonies of Schumann and Mendelssohn. Yet those accounts with the Cleveland Orchestra are far more hard driven than his approach to the composers here; perhaps even Dohnanyi is mellowing as he ages, though his control of orchestral balance and ensemble is as tight as ever.
With an appropriately scaled-down band - just six double basses - these performances prized transparency and lightness of touch above everything else. The familiar Dohnanyi dynamism emerged only in the finale of the Italian Symphony, taken at a breakneck speed that the Philharmonia brilliantly managed to sustain. Elsewhere there was never a hint of bombast; it was the classical affiliations of these composers that were emphasised rather than their later romantic ones. Even the Brahms looked backwards rather than forwards, with textures kept light and airy. The scherzo-like fifth variation had an athleticism that Mendelssohn would certainly have recognised.
The Schumann concerto was less successful, however. In the right circumstances Hélène Grimaud can be a thrilling, if impulsive soloist, but here she never seemed to achieve any rapport with the conductor. Dohnanyi laid out the skeleton of the concerto as deftly and straightforwardly as he had the rest of the programme, but Grimaud seemed intent on taking the music in much less predictable directions. Such clashes of temperament can be creative. This one was not. The friction hampered the performance, and even Grimaud's playing lost its usual poise. There were some sparky moments, especially in the finale, but overall there was too much that seemed out of focus and ill at ease.
