Bold, vivid and colourful classics delivered with true zing

IF you like your music to be cool and pastel-shaded, then you probably stayed away from this Royal Philharmonic concert because their programme was big, bold, full of drama and clothed in orchestral sound saturated in vivid colours.

- By WILLIAM RUFF

Chief Conductor Vasily Petrenko was in charge: a musician well able to keep his head whilst delivering music which aims its emotional punch at the solar plexus.

Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Fantasy Overture glows with the passion of young lovers beset by the enmity of their respective families. Its popularity ensures such frequent airings that it can seem hackneyed in tired hands. Fortunately, the RPO were on the edge of their seats for this performance.

Petrenko managed a satisfying balance between the brooding introduction, the focused energy of the fight music and the almost operatic tenderness of the great love theme. The RPO's strings in particular sang their hearts out.