This brief Coronation Cantata turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable rarity. Olga Borodina had been the great discovery of the 1991 Festival and it was good to have her back so soon. The baritone had been working at Glyndebourne (Tomsky in Graham Vick's staging of Queen of Spades) and was also excellent. Yuri Simonov had toured Scotland with the Royal Scottish Orchestra in the spring, and seemed to be a communicative and exciting artist.
This was the only Festival when the national orchestra played under this name. Having gained the Royal appellation, the 'National' in SNO had been dropped, but that had caused opposition in some quarters, so the RSNO was born.
The full concert programme was an all-Tchaikovsky affair, with two other rarities. The 3rd Symphony (Polish) was followed by a dazzling performance of the 2nd (G major) Piano Concerto by Peter Donohoe. Both were unusual programming, without being anything like as rare as the cantata, which made a cheerful finale. It was good to hear them all together - a true Festival event.
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