Reviews: Queen's Park Sinfonia

It’s a long walk from the back of St. Paul’s Church, up the Georgian nave past the box-pews and onto the stage area. I can imagine in certain circumstances it muct feel like a public march to the scaffold for any musician whose performance isn’t going well. But on Thursday night it was virtually a lap of honour for everyone concerned in the modest but heartening concert presented by the immensely capable young members of the Queen’s Park Sinfonia.

Many of then products of Birmingham Conservatoire, these players have an in-built resourcefulness of technique, sensitive ears and an unfussy efficiency which brings rewarding results for any conductor worthy of their salt.

And Rimma Sushanskaya is certainly that. This was the first full concert conducted by the expert international violinist, and all her inside experience from decades of performing with ensembles, plus her intimate knowledge and love of the scores guaranteed a level of preparation and rehearsal which is one of the glories of British orchestral life.

But all this is nothing without stick technique, and Sushanskaya has practised hers to a peak of clarity and potential expressiveness. By the time she had relaxed as the programme progressed she was able to bring to Haydn’s Military Symphony a variety of gesture to match the adorable music’s whimsicality of mood (Samuel Barber’s Adagio had opened with lustrous string sound but a definite sense of emphasis from the conductor’s then rather stiff beat). The empathy between Sushanskaya and her tremendously gifted violinist son Leonid Sushansky was obvious in the Mendelssohn Concerto. Though the soloist took a little time to settle, he soon revealed an impeccable technique and persuasive communication of this wonderful piece.

Christopher Morley, 11 June 2005, © 2005 Birmingham Post & Mail Ltd