Yuja Wang delivered an electrifying performance of Einojuhani Rautavaara's Piano Concerto No 1 at the Barbican Hall, with the London Symphony Orchestra under Finnish conductor Tarmo Peltokoski. The 1969 concerto, demanding considerable physicality, saw Wang attacking the keyboard with forearm thumps and key clusters, showcasing her bright clarity. Peltokoski's judgment ensured the orchestra was just adversarial enough.
Wang offered three encores, beginning with a Barcarolle by Finnish composer Erkki Melartin and concluding with Brahms's Hungarian Dance No 6, a duet with Peltokoski, himself a skilled pianist. The highlight was her own arrangement of the desperate second movement of Shostakovich's String Quartet No 8, dispatched with exhilarating virtuosity.
Peltokoski, aged 25, conducted Henk de Vlieger's orchestral arrangement condensing Wagner's 16-hour Ring cycle into just over 60 minutes. While some might argue the version omits key moments—Die Walküre receives relatively short shrift—the performance was rewarding due to the orchestra's glowing form and Peltokoski's pacing.
Initially discreet on the podium, Peltokoski's small beat allowed the Rheingold music to burst into sunlight. Even in the Ride of the Valkyries, he held back the brass. But this resource husbandry paid off: by the Brünnhilde-Siegfried love music, his gestures were broad and passionate, drawing out richly lyrical playing. At the climax of Siegfried's funeral music, both feet left the floor.
