Soltani came in teasingly, testing his colleagues’ flexibility with volatile quasi inprovisando. A second theme impressed with the glowing warmth of its expressivity, his fearless virtuosity running from flying spiccato and gruff power chords to a spectacular closing sweep of sixths.
The woodwind were soul siblings alongside him in an exquisitely nuanced Adagio, proving that delicacy and the richest of emotions are not mutually incompatible. Its tuneful second theme would serve as an enterprising encore, Soltani enchanting us with Dvorak’s original song, accompanied by orchestral cellos and basses.
Ten years ago, Simone Young confessed to me that she really enjoyed making Bruckner converts; tonight, she may have done the same for lingering Brahms sceptics.
The opening Allegro non troppo of his Second Symphony offered almost 21 minutes of full Brahmsian immersion. The Viennese lilt and buoyancy of its first pages contrasted with more forceful writing later on, Young herself reacting to compulsive cross-rhythms with swaying body movements.
There was an enviable sense of flow to the Adagio non troppo, its bloom enriched by the sigh of string portamento; the following movement revealing how dramatically a demonic scherzo can impinge on innocent, dance-like triple time.
In the Finale one felt the composer’s humour, almost Haydensque at times, Young’s impeccable sense of balance and proportion nowhere more apparent than in a spell of enchanted tranquillity.