Composers: Antonín Dvořák, Johannes Brahms and Robert Schumann
Conductor: Jonathon Heyward
The very best thing in this concert is watching Jonathon Heyward conduct. He’s young (33) and intensely charismatic. Full of smiles, baton-less and often marking rhythm rather than beating time, he has a delightful way of raising both hands above his head and twitching his fingers to signal fortissimo wind entries. And, for the most part, he coaxes good results from the orchestra in a programme devoted entirely to music from the mid to late nineteenth century.
Dvořák’s 1891 concert “overture” (really more of a tone poem), In Nature’s Realm, is full of the flamboyant, happy melodies which characterise the composer. Here, with violas, unusually, seated on the outside to the conductor’s right, it all sings cheerfully. There’s some especially rich horn playing, and the dolce passage before the end is delivered with sensitivity.
A live performance of Brahms’s stunningly beautiful Double Concerto for Violin and Cello is an exciting prospect. It is very familiar from recordings but doesn’t get on to the concert platform as often as it should – probably because of the expense of two soloists and the logistics of their rehearsing together. The concerto is played at this concert by two LPO principals: Pieter Schoeman (violin) and Kristina Blaumane, two people who evidently know each other well. Both have their music up and play, as you’d expect, with great technical competence. However, it feels, and looks, businesslike rather than passionate, which doesn’t sit quite right given that Brahms wrote this piece as a bridge builder for his friend, violinist Joseph Joachim, from whom he’d been estranged for a long time.
Nonetheless, the cello cadenza, which comes only a few bars into the first movement, is impressive, the violin and cello duet in the andante is eloquent, with some pleasing flute playing in the carefully managed orchestral accompaniment. A clear sense of chamber music pervades the concluding Vivace non troppo with some incisive playing and attractive fugal work leading to a reasonably resounding conclusion.
The high spot in this concert, though, comes after the interval in an elegant performance of the 1851 version of Schumann’s fourth and last symphony. Considering this came from a man beset by severe mental health problems, the exuberant sunniness of this work, despite the minor key, always comes as a surprise.
Highlights in this enjoyable performance include the triumphant trombone entries in the first movement and the lyrical cello and violin solos in the Romanze. Also notable are the control and precision in the trio and the terrific horn sound in the last movement, although the transition into this movement is a bit ragged.
Full marks, incidentally, to Jonathon Heyward for his brisk way of turning movement endings into mood changes rather than awkward gaps for the audience to cough or, worse, indulge in half-hearted applause.
Reviewed on 10 April 2026
