Haydn London Symphony by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra promises a night full of emotion, a dynamic and delicate ensemble controlled by the skilful Domingo Hindoyan.
With Domingo Hindoyan at the helm, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Symphony (RLPS) kicks off the night with the forceful first movement of Weber’s second symphony. A work that breaks away from the classical romantic format, Weber imbues a light and playful theme to his second symphony. A delicate conversation between the horns and the oboe takes the main stage for the first movement, rendered perfectly by the orchestra, with respect paid to soft build ups, clear and crisp staccatos and a musical climax full of gusto and character. Whilst labelled as a menuetto, the third movement is anything but and the orchestra excels in ensuring so. Powerful strings contrasted by mellow oboes, off-beat accents are clean and synchronised, and balance was well kept. The finale, a scherzo is unusual for romantic symphonies of the era. The oboes take the main stage here with precision, and a comical ending well executed by Domingo.
An interlude before the final symphony of the night, Domingo premieres the Lunar Solar by Roxanna Panufnik, specially commissioned by the RLPS. This piece narrates a starry romance story of the sun and moon, with the sun represented by the sharp oboe serenading the mellow Cor Anglais representing the moon. Helena Mackie on the oboe and Drake Gritton on the Cor Anglais prove to be a wonderful duet, starting off with a sharp contrast that reconciles towards a mellow and unified unison, before diverging towards a meaningful resolution. It did feel at times that the triangles could have taken a tad step back so as not to intrude on the delicate conversation taking place. Nevertheless, this was a well-written piece with technicality and intricacy, precisely and dynamically rendered.
The final symphony of the night was the namesake piece, Haydn’s Symphony No. 104 titled “London”. This is a more classical symphony, starting off with an Adagio-Allegro as the first movement. The drums and strings usher in a powerful opening, with respectful silences between attacks highlighting the overtones achieved by perfect tunning. Entrances were generally synchronised and rendered cleanly, although there were some instances where it was slightly noticeable that the horns were anticipating and hence ever so slightly rushing in their entry. The wonderful dynamic range was carried over into this symphony, allowing adequate runway to transition from softer to louder sections. . The first viola felt slightly lacking in more demanding sections of the more traditional Menuetto of the third movement but did not detract from the light texture of the movement. The night ends off with an energetic and memorable finale, where challenging fast paced sections were cleanly rendered, and in perfect time.
Haydn London Symphony was performed at the Liverpool Royal Philharmonic Hall on the 11th June 2026.