Black skies and a downpour heavy enough to silence the gulls only added to the mood of cheer at Fiesta!, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra’s last concert of the season. This programme of bracingly rhythmic Latin music by some of South America’s leading classical composers felt like a triumphant rebuttal to the rain gods. Moreover it was a sharp riposte to anyone who says audiences only come to what they know. With accents of salsa, mambo or merengue seeping insistently into the six works performed, from Mexico, Venezuela, Puerto Rico and Argentina, this was music that defied you to sit still.
Only one piece was familiar: Alberto Ginastera’s Four Dances from Estancia, which has been played occasionally at the Proms. The names of the other composers, including Evencio Castellanos, Antonio Estévez and Inocente Carreño, are unlikely to roll off many concert-goers’ tongues as yet. Their short, atmospheric works, especially Estévez’s heady Mediodía en el Llano (Midday in the Plains), could grace any programme. Loyalty aside, what persuaded the Philharmonic Hall crowd to come? One answer was the RLPO’s chief conductor for the past two seasons, the Armenian-Venezuelan Domingo Hindoyan. Before a note was played, the extension of his contract, to 2028, was announced, to resounding applause.
