This was an evening of Russian music to start off a new season. There were no introductories from the new Music Director but they came later. Maybe it was because his opening concert was being broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and he was told to get on with it. And he certainly did - for there was a crispness and togetherness for Glink's Russian and Ludmilla Overture.
Vadim Gluzman showed us how Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto should be played not just because he was playing a violin made in 1690, which was used when the concerto was first performed in 1881, but because of his own considerable talent. Just once or twice he tapped a foot louder than he would have wished. It was clear that he and the conductor were enjoying themselves and at a fast pace.
Peter Oundjian might have been putting his all into the conducting of the first half - but far from it, for after the interval came the hour long Shostakovich Symphony No 11. It is called The Year 1905 for the four joined-together movements relate the horror of Bloody Sunday when Russians descended on St Petersburg expecting the Tsar to relieve them from their miseries. Written fifty years later and soon after the horrors of the 1956 bloodshed in Hungary Peter Oundjian told us that no doubt the composer had this also in his mind. The lighting dimmed over the Orchestra at appropriate moments with Oundjian firmly in command of his players all the way.
A wonderful start for Oundjian's tenure with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra - even if we were not able to respond at the beginning to a Good Evening as is our custom in the Usher Hall. And the way he read the lead-in to the Symphony was as good as any famous actor's. Let's hope this is a good omen.
Event: Friday 5 October 2012 at 7.30pm