Billed as a Maxim Vengerov gala, this programme of popular classics was also a showcase for the Romanian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the somewhat grandiose touring name for the Brașov Philharmonic. A fine, disciplined ensemble, they hail from Romania’s seventh most populous city, located slap bang in the middle of Transylvania. Under Armenian conductor Sergey Smbatyan, their robust performance grew in stature as the evening progressed.
The first half got off to a spirited start with Sibelius’s perennial Karelia Suite. The central Ballade brought out the burnished earthiness of the RNPO’s lower strings, though the Intermezzo could have been lighter on its feet. Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet Fantasy-Overture was more enthralling, with Smbatyan part urgent, part cajoling, crafting the kind of imaginative and dynamic phrasing the Sibelius somehow lacked.
