The Rotterdam Philharmonic arrived at the Proms midway through a tour simultaneously celebrating the orchestra’s centenary and saying farewell to Yannick Nézet-Séguin, its principal conductor for the past decade. Nézet-Séguin is headed to New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the ultimate in glamorous opera jobs – and if anyone in the audience didn’t already know that, they surely did by the time he had finished introducing the second half’s encore, the prelude to Act 3 of Verdi’s La traviata.
But let’s talk about the orchestra. The Rotterdam Philharmonic is one of several that play in the pit for the Dutch National Opera, so Verdi is not out of their comfort zone – and they made a nice job of the prelude, all silky violins and dark-toned wind.
First, however, the spotlight had been on pianist Yefim Bronfman, at least during Liszt’s Piano Concerto No 2 – his first-half encore was shared with, yes, Nézet-Séguin, who joined him at the piano for a duet of Mendelssohn’s Op 62 No 5 Venetian Barcarolle.
Bronfman was in his element, dispatching even Liszt’s showiest writing with relaxed poise and as much eloquence as this music allows. After a slightly unfocused start from the woodwind, the orchestra settled into its accompanying role, full of challenging, quasi-martial motifs – but even when it growled its loudest, Bronfman’s piano was still its equal. Liszt’s more lyrical moments were also well served, especially in a beautifully sustained cello solo.
Bruckner’s Symphony No 4 arrived as a disturbance in the air – a string shimmer emerging out of nothing – then moved forward at a flowing tempo that made it sound almost like Schubert. Nézet-Séguin let the music be grand but never marmoreal, conducting with an ear for colour; in the final movement, the often-repeated lighter theme sounded subtly different each time, as if it were trying on moods for size.
There was not a whisker of applause between movements, which at today’s Proms might be seen as symptomatic of a lack of a truly clinching sense of arrival and culmination. But Nézet-Séguin is bequeathing his successor, the 29-year-old Israeli conductor Lahav Shani, an orchestra in good shape.
• The Proms continue until 8 September.
