The ghost of Richard Wagner hovers over Anton Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, most obviously in the monumental Adagio, completed mere months after the death of the Austrian composer’s musical hero and occasional drinking buddy. The slow movement duly occupied centre stage in Ryan Wigglesworth’s somewhat restrained interpretation with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, its utterances simple, yet profound. This was no funeral oration, however, but a fond farewell, its tender tones occasionally ruffled by the phalanx of Wagner tubas unsettling the harmonies towards the bottom of the orchestra.
Wigglesworth’s conducting benefited from his composer’s ear: orchestral balance was spotless; instrumental colours blended with an instinct for detail. Equally effective was his way of always keeping something in reserve, especially important in Bruckner where the slow build is paramount. In the first movement, the architectural framework was clearly defined, the conductor adopting a (mostly) non-interventionist approach to phrasing and rubato. Not that the performance lacked incident, with great wodges of brass giving way to the sound of solitary flutes crying in the wilderness. In contrast, the scherzo was almost jaunty. It was left to the finale to climb one final mountain and end in a blaze of glory.
A similar grasp of the musical trajectory paid dividends in Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 20. Wigglesworth kept the orchestral sound down, though its sinister presence was always there, lurking beneath Mariam Batsashvili’s vital account of the solo line. The Georgian pianist gave an enthralling, controlled performance, notes dropping like liquid pearls. Her choice of Beethoven’s flinty cadenzas upped the dramatic stakes. The central Romance was finessed with a supple grace before a fiery finale in which the conductor finally allowed the orchestra its head. Batsashvili’s encore, Liszt’s La Campanella, was dispatched in a blur of coruscating finger work, proving she can showboat with the best.
The concert opened with For Laura, after Bach, composed by the conductor in tribute to the BBCSSO’s former leader Laura Samuel, who died last year. Inspired by her recording of the Gigue from Bach’s third solo partita, Wigglesworth incorporated its themes into an elaborate 10-minute memorial for strings where wheeling violins soared heavenward in intricate canons and sombre cello lines hinted at heartbeats and lullabies.