‘Behold, the sea itself,” declares Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony, but it could equally apply to any of the works in this carefully crafted concert of British music. The latest instalment in Antonio Pappano’s ongoing odyssey opened with Elizabeth Maconchy, a gifted yet neglected contemporary of Shostakovich and Tippett, whose impressionistic Nocturne owed more of a debt to Holst and Debussy. A cinematic soundscape, complete with moody undertow and opulent climaxes, hinted at moon, clouds and waves in a spellbinding musical watercolour.
William Walton’s Cello Concerto sings of warmer waters, especially the shimmering finale, which seems to end in a balmy Mediterranean sunset. The spirit of Prokofiev hovered over the ticking opening, Pappano and orchestra relishing the smouldering harmonies flecked with vibraphone, harp and celesta. LSO principal cello Rebecca Gilliver, a natural team player, was at her finest in the third movement where double stopping and extended trills were rendered with pinpoint accuracy. Elsewhere, she took a more self-effacing approach, a touch smudgy in the spiky scherzo, though always warm of tone.
