Royal Festival Hall, London
Estonian conductor Paavo Järvi kept the orchestra on its toes through the UK premiere of his countryman Erkki-Sven Tüür’s new cello concerto

Erkki-Sven Tüür’s new cello concerto opens with a mighty thrum and concludes with the orchestra dissolving magically into the ether. Subtitled Labyrinths of Life, it’s a typically colourful and occasionally brutal journey that wends its unbroken way through movements labelled Dark and Deep to attain an uneasy truce in a finale entitled Light.

The Estonian composer’s second cello concerto, a Philharmonia co-commission, was here receiving its UK premiere with its original soloist Nicolas Altstaedt. Complex and densely scored, it demands a virtuoso technique as the harried cellist ranges from the instrument’s snarling lowest register to the most perilous of heights. Calling for a substantial orchestra, including a skilfully deployed battery of exotic percussion, the work is an intricately balanced marriage of equals.