April 2012

Debussy/Szymanowski - Peter Eötvös/Christian Tetzlaff

Sun 29 Apr 2012, Barbican

Independent on Sunday, 6 May 2012
The seduction continued in Szymanowski's Violin Concerto No 1, its fecund, Fauvist colours and predatory figures offset by moments of pure elevation, pure dazzle, pure freedom.
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Classical Source, 1 May 2012
Overall, a fine demonstration of the LSO’s skill in overtly expressive late-Romantic repertoire and a notable return for Eötvös, whose forthcoming Bartók and Szymanowski concert should be no less absorbing.
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Seen and Heard, 1 May 2012
what a glorious wash of sound the LSO could produce, contrasting with Teztlaff’s silver and gold, a contrast lying at the heart of a remarkable performance.
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The Arts Desk, 30 Apr 2012
Translucent colours; a lovely languorous flute; tumescent upheavals regularly topped by a queasy trumpet motif that kept crowing like a rooster welcoming the dawns ... Eötvös waded in with his own aplomb, shaping sonorities
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Weber Der Freischütz - Sir Colin Davis et al

Thu 19 & Sat 21 Apr 2012, Barbican

musicOMH.com, 7 May 2012
Davis's conducting, on the other hand, was an unqualified triumph as he combined a generally expansive tone with suitably momentum-driven rhythms.
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Daily Telegraph, 20 Apr 2012
The LSO played with their customary skill and virtuosity, but the performance occasionally seemed short on detail and tension.
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The Guardian, 20 April 2012
Davis wonderfully sustains the oppressive atmosphere, so that when the powers of darkness are defeated and the flutes usher us towards the light, we really do feel we are in a new and better world.
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Bachtrack, 20 Apr 2012
Despite my quibbles I have to confess I was absolutely enraptured throughout, watching in a state of gleeful wonder at the beauties unfolding before me. I cannot help but award it five stars.
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Classical Source, 20 Apr 2012
The London Symphony Chorus sang with notable verve – not least those choruses for bridesmaids and huntsmen that set the scene for the denouement, while the LSO lacked nothing in commitment: mention must be made of Rebecca Gilliver and Edward Vanderspar for their obbligato contributions to Agathe’s and Ännchen’s arias in Act Three.
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The Times, 22 Apr 2012
Thank goodness for the bass-baritone Lars Woldt, who replaced Falk Struckmann at short notice and lifted the performance with his vivid characterisation of the dark and dastardly Kaspar.
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Seen and Heard, 22 Apr 2012
... musically there was much to savour including the splendid playing by the consistently reliable LSO and the support given to them by the lively and committed chorus.
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Schumann/Bruckner - Daniel Harding/Nicholas Angelich

Thu 12 Apr 2012, Barbican

Sunday Times, 22 Apr 2012
His reading of the Sixth — with Nos 1 and 2, the least often heard of the nine — was highly cogent, intelligent, as deeply felt, on occasion (the beautiful, quintessential adagio), as it was gloriously blazoned forth (much of the time).  
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The Guardian, 13 Apr 2012
Harding held it all together in one of the most dramatic and unexpected readings of a Bruckner opening movement most of us are likely to hear.
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Evening Standard, 13 Apr 2012
Hard against long interludes of rapt contemplation came passages in which the tension seemed about to burst. Without interfering with the forward momentum or the solidity of Bruckner’s structure, Harding and his players made the contrasts count.
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The Times, 15 Apr 2012
Harding’s sure-footed direction welded it firmly to the rest.
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Bachtrack, 13 Apr 2012
The second movement belongs to the strings with intense, filling texture, punctuated by some heart-rending oboe solos: the LSO's principal oboist Kieran Moore had plenty to do for the whole evening and was on splendid form, with bell-like clarity and great expression.
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Classical Source, 14 Apr 2012
Brucknerians must have been totally immersed in the lovely Adagio, from Juan Pechuan Ramirez’s beautifully played oboe lament to the meticulously graded approaches to and retreats from the climaxes
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Mahler Symphony No 3 - Semyon Bychkov/Christianne Stotijn

Sun 1 Apr 2012, Barbican

Sunday Times, 8 Apr 2012
From the opening fortissimo declamation by horns — one of music’s great beginnings — one knew this would be a memorable realisation of a work that is not just a symphony
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Sunday Telegraph, 8 Apr 2012
Powerful and resolute indeed, the music got underway with bold horns punctuated with a stabbing full orchestra, and the playing was outstanding on every level from the band's deep primordial howls to its piercing shrieks - and not forgetting some poignantly sweet violin solos. 
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The Guardian, 2 Apr 2012
Then the focus was back on Bychkov and the orchestra for the finale, with perhaps the greatest melody Mahler ever composed turned into an exercise in extreme refinement and pianissimo string playing; one was impressed but never remotely moved.
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Financial Times, 2 Apr 2012
The manifold themes and cross-currents of the gargantuan opening movement were immaculately laid out – and ennobled by principal trumpet Philip Cobb. The minuet, decorated with tasteful rubato, sounded molto espressivo. The scherzo had light and air, and Christianne Stotijn brought dignified focus to the “Midnight Song”.
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Classical Source, 2 Apr 2012
The LSO playing was marvellous – marooned, desolate trumpet calls, an inexorably baleful solo trombone, a sumptuously glossy string sound with a superb violin solo from Roman Simovic.
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Daily Telegraph, 2 Apr 2012
Bychkov encouraged the horns to play their huge swinging melody with ponderous weight, and gave the punctuating percussion thuds a crushing force.
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Bachtrack, 2 Apr 2012
I was highly impressed with the results: every section of the LSO sounded perfectly balanced and played with gorgeous timbre.
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Seen and Heard, 2 Apr 2012
It was quite a journey, then, and to my ears at least not always a journey travelled along the best-chosen path, but the great slow movement with which Mahler concludes or consummates his symphony turned out to be a triumph unalloyed.
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