Review: Orchestra of Opera North *****

At Leeds Town Hall

It beggars belief that there were empty seats for this remarkable concert, and it leaves one wondering just how much longer Leeds concert-goers will take to understand that the city possesses one of Europe’s greatest orchestras.

The programme was largely given to Mahler’s sprawling Seventh Symphony, and having reviewed every recording of the work, I can tell those who missed the performance that it was one of the very finest I have heard.

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That you noticed one single split horn note spoke volumes of the technical perfection of the playing, the otherwise faultless brass playing packed full of scintillating brilliance even in the most demanding sections. Yet it was the strings, working far beyond the call of duty, who gave the music the basis on which the woodwind could dance or add those spiky pungencies in the composer’s nightmare moments, while the outstanding timpani and percussion added the final tingle factor.

That said, Jac van Steen was probably the finest conductor the orchestra has ever worked with, and they joined in the audience’s tumultuous applause. He injected abundant drama into the score, always allowing the orchestra time to take us far beyond the printed page.