Classical Music Review: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra with Domingo Hindoyan at the Royal Concert Hall

One of the absolute standouts from the Nottingham Classics 2023-24 season was Domingo Hindoyan with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme that dramatically paired a selection of Hispanic works with the Brahms Double Concerto. Hindoyan had then been in post as the orchestra’s chief conductor for two years, although he first worked with them as guest conductor in 2019, and the dynamic between maestro and players was palpable. It proved a thrilling concert and I promised myself I’d be there next time they came to Nottingham, never mind the repertoire.

That caveat was crucial. I have little interest in the Russian Easter Festival Overture (I find Rimsky-Korsakov’s work to be much of a muchness), nor is the Prokofiev 2 the first piece I’d choose if I fancied a piano concerto: in fact it would be in the lower reaches of my top fifty for that repertoire. But it was Hindoyan and the RLPO and the second half was given over to Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5 - a perennial favourite - so I took my seat with a great deal of anticipation. And just a smidgin of trepidation: in the two and half years since I’d last seen them, had the orchestra-conductor relationship cooled?

I needn’t have worried. As the RLPO filed onstage and took their seats, it was evident that this was an orchestra sure of itself artistically, confident in its leader and, quite frankly, raring to go. Hindoyan swept through their ranks and up onto the podium, every bit as swarthy, charismatic and powerful as I’d remembered. He grinned at audience and orchestra alike, turned, gave the downbeat and a piece I’d never really cared for burst into life and ratcheted me to my seat.

And no sooner had I changed my mind about the Russian Easter Festival Overture than they put me in my place as regards the Prokofiev. Joined by Kazakhstan-born pianist Alim Beisembayev, who came across as remarkably diffident despite his considerable talent, the jazz-inflections of the concerto were front and centre. Beisembayev’s playing was dexterous and emphatic, his concentration absolute. A work that I’ve often found fussy and unengaging on record was transformed in the concert hall. The audience were held rapt through the four intense and complicated movements. The applause was enthusiastic, drawing Beisembayev back for an encore. 

How do I describe the Tchaikovsky without raiding a thesaurus for every known superlative? I’ll direct you to my concert companion. He first encountered Tchaikovsky’s Fifth at the age of seven - it was the first symphony he’d ever heard - and, in his words, “it’s been imprinted on my soul forever”. He has seen it performed live on nine occasions and owns 21 different recordings. A musician himself, he knows every note. So never mind that I raved about the RLPO’s account of it incessantly as we exited the Royal Concert Hall - it’s when he says the performance was as good as it gets that proves the point.

The RPLO’s playing was tight, disciplined and powerful. The balance of fine detail and nuance against the lyrical scope of the broader canvas was perfectly judged. Throughout the entire concert, nobody put a foot wrong. That might sound like a back-handed compliment; surely not putting a foot wrong should be a basic requirement from a professional orchestra. But pieces like Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No 2 and Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony are huge and complex and fraught with the potential for things to go wrong. As a reviewer, I try to be mindful of the challenges of large scale repertoire and I’m happy to gloss over the occasional late entry, bum note or discordant tone if it’s just a one-off in an otherwise excellent performance of  a work that clocks in at the better part of an hour. I’ve heard minor flubs from world-class orchestras, while at London’s Barbican a few years ago, I witnessed a fairly big name make a complete hash of the opening chorale of Tchaikovsky’s Fourth. These things happen. Sometimes they mar the performance, mostly they’re things that the audience shrug off, caught up in the overall excitement of live music making.

But for an entire concert to be entirely free of even the slightest hint of an imperfection - for the whole programme to be not just passionately and excitingly delivered, but flawless on an aesthetic level - that’s something special. The RLPO have always been a dependable if strangely underrated ensemble; under Hindoyan’s direction they have attained a standard of artistry that makes them the equal of any of the big league European or American orchestras.

In January, Kahchun Wong and The Hallé gifted us with a Beethoven’s Third for the ages. To have had that and Hindoyan and the RLPO’s majestic Tchaikovsky’s Fifth in the same concert season is staggering. Nottingham audiences have seldom had it so good.

The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra played the Royal Concert Hall on Thursday 23 April 2026.