REVIEW by Tom Wickson

The BSO’s international reputation allows it to attract some powerful friends to come to the south coast to perform with it. So it was they were accompanied on Wednesday evening in Poole Lighthouse by one of the most inspiring pianists of this generation, the polymath Stephen Hough, and were led by one of the busiest conductors all around the world, Thierry Fischer.

Their programme opened with a magisterial and authoritative performance of the ‘Emperor’ concerto by Beethoven. Although in the dramatic opening movement Mr Hough suggested all the turmoil of the composer’s life, the sublime slow movement was weighty with a sweet regret. The final movement seemed to resolve all our worries in its out-going optimism, the sun coming out after a harsh winter. The soloist’s sensitivity was readily matched by the orchestra’s varied and brightly coloured accompaniment.

The American composer Charles Ives’s 1906 work The Unanswered Question was perhaps the least well-known work in the concert and provided a different response to the question of human existence. The strings, wind quartet and solo trumpet conveyed a bleak and rather negative answer, but conveyed it with conviction. The mood seemed to challenge what came next to resolve our doubts and insecurities, following, as it did, with just the shortest break.

What came next was the first symphony of Brahms – a major landmark in nineteenth century music which earned a colossal performance by the BSO. The orchestra glowed with energy, snarled in anger and seduced with beauty by turns until the magnificent flowering of the grand theme in the last movement seemed to breathe confidence and relief.

Which of these answers works best for you may be a matter of personal feeling, but Mr Fischer and the BSO seemed to capture the most complete and satisfying resolution of the evening in the final pages of Brahms’ great hymn to the nobility of the human spirit.