SWRSO Stuttgart/Norrington review – buoyant, brisk and irrepressible

An orchestral layout that differs from the expected can be both visually and aurally stimulating, as the SWR Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart proved in this first concert of a short British tour. With the wind players standing to play – lined up on either side of the strings and facing in, and the four double basses along the back facing out – the instrumental dialogue had a fresh and sometimes startling immediacy. Which was just right for an all-Beethoven programme that people might have assumed they knew inside out. But then, with conductor Roger Norrington, long acclaimed for his historically informed interpretations of the symphonies, nothing can be taken for granted.

The overture, The Creatures of Prometheus, established the Norrington balance of flowing lines plus rhythmic incisiveness, the latter achieved by mere flicks of the wrists, the forceful dynamic surges requiring wider-flung gestures. But the still-irrepressible nature – Norrington is 84 on Friday – was most apparent as he turned to the audience on the final chord as though to say: “Wasn’t that good?”. It was, but at the end of the Eroica symphony’s fast movements, now using his swivel chair to swing round and invite applause – notably for the three horn players after the scherzo and trio – he emphasised that this was less heroic and reverential , and more buoyant and brisk. Even the funeral march moved at quite a lick.

Between these two works, pianist Francesco Piemontesi was the immaculate soloist in a similarly brisk but beautifully detailed performance of the C-minor Concerto, its intimacy underlined by the piano facing inwards, lid-off, the orchestra embracing his sound.

• At The Anvil, Basingstoke, 15 March. Box office: 01256 844 244. Then at Cadogan Hall, London, 16 March. Box office: 020-7730 4500.