Freiburg Baroque Orch/Rattle/Faust review – ‘problem’ Schumann works shine in exceptional evening

Royal Albert Hall, London Simon Rattle, guest conducting the period instrument ensemble, brought insights and detail to these three lesser known works by Schumann. Isabelle Faust was a spirited and graceful soloist in the Violin Concerto Simon Rattle sure loves a challenge. This all-Schumann evening featured three “problem” works: the overture to a failed opera, a violin concerto deemed sufficiently disappointing that the composer’s executors ordered it locked away for a century, and a symphony written in the depths of depression. What’s more, he was conducting the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in an acoustic hardly conducive to the soft-grained tones of period ensembles. In the event, we needn’t have worried, but you have to admire his pluck. The overture to Genoveva got off to a moody start. Rattle and the Freiburgers drew the listener in by tapping into the musical storytelling – the quartet of horns was especially striking – rather than relying on sheer volume. Closer to Mendelssohn than Wagner, it must have felt old hat in 1848, but here came up bristling with romance and chivalry. Continue reading...