Perahi sumons stormy grandeur

WOLFGANG Sawallisch had to withdraw from the first part of the Philharmonia Orchestra's Beethoven series devised in his honour in March. Now, alas, he's in a German nursing home following serious operations and had to miss the second part. In his stead, the orchestra has secured Frans Bruggen, Sir Charles Mackerras, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, and, last night, Matthias Bamert. No soloists have jumped ship. Bravo.

Bamert is a solid, workmanlike conductor, but sometimes lacks that measure of charisma that transforms the great but familiar into something new. Thus it proved in his reading of Beethoven's Eroica Symphony (a late substitution for the Pastoral). Nothing went wrong. Playing was neat and accurate. Dynamic markings were observed. Phrasing and articulation were meticulous, balance and hence textural clarity likewise. The breadth of the funeral march movement was impressive. Yet the reading lacked a certain rawness, a hyperemotion, a feeling that each and every event in this bold music was created at immense psychological expense. Bamert seemed to forget that this is a startlingly revolutionary piece. Perhaps limited rehearsal time was to blame.

Earlier, however, his skills were vital in enabling the orchestra to partner Murray Perahia in Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto with such distinction. Often - as here - Perahia's pent-up energies give rise to one or two little inaccuracies in the opening stages of a performance. They mattered not one jot, for once he had relaxed a little, he gave a display of fine piano playing, with an opening movement of stormy grandeur, a slow movement of intense poignancy, and a finale which teasingly leaned this way and that with unfettered virtuosic joy. And, as usual, not a single ugly sound.