Barenboim and Boulez in Liszt and Wagner, Royal Festival Hall

Daniel Barenboim, Berlin Staatskapelle / Pierre Boulez
@ Royal Festival Hall, London, 13 June 2011

An irresistible combination of performers took to the stage for the latest instalment in the Royal Festival Hall's Shell Classic International season – and threw curious shades of light on the Liszt bicentenary celebrations in the process.

While Daniel Barenboim may have played the music of the composer for many decades, Pierre Boulez is not known for his pedigree in Liszt, save for some isolated performances of the symphonic poems. Yet perhaps surprisingly it was Barenboim's contribution to the two piano concertos that made for some communal head scratching come the concert's close, despite the standing ovation.

The first concerto, which ended an enterprising examination of Liszt's relationship with Wagner, a close friend, was the most difficult to understand. The opening felt constricted in tempo, and Barenboim's first statement on the piano was laboured in tempo, giving not the impression of a virtuoso bursting out of the blocks, but one holding up the progress of the music, and its momentum, in the process.

There were many fine things about this interpretation, but they derived principally from the orchestra, with a succession of gorgeous solos from flute, oboe and clarinet in the slower music. Barenboim played with great skill and finesse, but the sense of unbuttoned energy that Liszt's fast music so often conveys remained at arm's length.

The second concerto was similarly constricted at times but was generally more successful, the arrival at its crowning march theme bringing with it a far more stirring outcome. While the work has a curious structure it is notably forward looking in its harmonic language and in the relationship between piano and orchestra. Boulez especially enjoyed these aspects; despite Barenboim's instinct to conduct what is after all his own orchestra. Oh to be a fly on the wall in rehearsal!

While the two piano concertos had their interpretative issues, Wagner's Siegfried-Idyll and Faust Overture were on far more secure ground. The former especially was gorgeous, the orchestra of 30 exactly double the size employed by the composer to serenade his wife, Cosima, on Christmas Day in 1870. The sound was heavenly, Boulez controlling the seamless melodies as they unfurled with delightful restraint, concentrating on purity of line and texture.

This provided a satisfying contrast with the Faust Overture, which showcased the orchestra’s lean and earthy sound through a performance that crackled with atmosphere. Wagner is not associated with Faust normally but was obsessed by Goethe's tale at an early age. The Overture, something of a collection of themes intended for a longer symphony, provided good, old fashioned Romanticism, with Boulez showing that even at the age of 85, he remains no slouch in the conducting department.

A fascinating evening of music making, then, and a privilege to see two of the greatest classical musicians alive take the stage together, even though their combined music making raised more questions than it did answers.