LPO/Pappano review: Everyone is enjoying themselves in this shining success

Antonio Pappano and the LPO brought some welcome Mediterranean warmth to the South Bank on Saturday night, beginning their concert with Elgar’s In the South.

The overture, inspired by the composer’s holiday trip to the Ligurian seaside town of Alassio in 1903, is irradiated by the Italian sun and Pappano relished its effusive cheerfulness.

Elgar also took inspiration from Richard Strauss, in particular Ein Heldenleben, making it a suitable curtain-raiser for the latter’s Four Last Songs.

Diana Damrau’s voice may not have the opulence of a Jessye Norman or a Renée Fleming, but as an outstanding coloratura soprano she brings consummate mastery of line and diction, and floats the upper notes effortlessly.

With Pappano as sympathetic to the voice as ever, vocal and instrumental lines combined and interwove seamlessly. As in the Elgar, Pappano kept things on the move, careful to ensure that orchestral textures were fluid as well as expansive.

Despite its uncertain opening and the passing clouds of dark introspection, Brahms’s Symphony No 2 in D major is his sunniest, making it an ideal complement to Elgar’s postcard from the south.

Without Brahms too, neither Elgar nor Strauss would have been the composers they were. The strings seized their lyrical opportunities, not least in the first movement, with horns also in glorious voice.

In fact everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves playing for Pappano. Scarcely surprising, given that he exudes such joy in the business of music-making.