Concert Reviews

A Tribute to Sir Colin Davis

Sun 16 & Tue 18 Jun 2013, Barbican

The Guardian, 18 Jun 2013
Davis's son, Joseph Wolfe, ­conducted a blazing interpretation of Berlioz's Corsair overture, in which the LSO strings were at their silkiest, notably representing the composer whose ­reputation Davis did more than ­anyone to raise to its current height
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The Tiimes, 17 Jun 2013
Finally came the bittersweet strings and harp of Elgar’s Sospiri — a late discovery by Davis, who wanted to conduct the piece himself but told Wolfe: “If I don’t, you must do it for me.” So he did, with heat and heart. Then into the foyer and the wee dram. To Sir Colin!
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Classical Source, 17 Jun 2013
'...an account that was muscular and springy, neatly tailored in dynamics and balance, the performance collegiate yet individual, full of energy, trenchancy and wit.'
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Britten/Copland/Shostakovich - Michael Tilson Thomas/Yo-Yo Ma

Wed 12 Jun 2013, Barbican

Financial Times, 17 Jun 2013
'With the LSO woodwind catching the raw sound of Britten’s wailing east coast gale, and the brass clipped and decisive, this was a performance of rare conviction.'
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The Arts Desk, 13 Jun 2013
The LSO have always brought out their best for guest conductors, but no one galvanises them quite like Tilson Thomas. They spring off his incisive beat, throwing down the opening chord of Copland’s Inscape as though the final punch in a long fight.
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MusicOMH, 17 Jun 2013
'The purity and expressiveness of the string sound was a notable feature, as were the flute solos provided by Adam Walker.'
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Britten/Copland/Shostakovich - Michael Tilson Thomas/Yo-Yo Ma

Tue 11 Jun 2013, Barbican

The Guardian, 12 Jun 2013
[Britten's Prince of Pagodas is] a gift for Tilson Thomas, whose conducting tingled with excitement from start to finish. The playing was tremendous, too, with Britten's gamelan making the LSO percussionists the stars of the evening.
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Classical Source, 12 Jun 2013
'Michael Tilson Thomas steered a sure course through its prodigal melodiousness and complicated plot, and the LSO players were up for every virtuoso trick the composer could throw at them.'
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Britten/Copland/Shostakovich - Michael Tilson Thomas/Yo-Yo Ma

Sun 9 Jun 2013, Barbican

The Telegraph, 11 Jun 2013
'the impact of Sunday night’s concert, the first of three conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, pinned one back by the ears.'
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The Times, 11 Jun 2013
'the LSO vigorously thrust themselves into the party, finger-snapping, conga drums and all.'
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Seen and Heard, 11 June 2013
'The Fugue was the fitting conclusion, wonderfully agile and truly climactic. The audience cheers were richly deserved.'
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Classical Source, 11 Jun 2013
'...the initial paragraph – with each sectional appearance – was vividly projected, while Tilson Thomas’s handling of the Fugue and its climactic apotheosis was a masterclass in scintillating orchestral virtuosity'
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BMW LSO Open Air Classics 2013

Mon 27 May 2013, Trafalgar Square

The Arts Desk, 28 May 2013
'I only got the megaphoned sound of every string through the loudspeakers from far back on the right of the stage, though once I’d moved to the centre for the Witches’ Sabbath, the natural sound added to the amplified did give a sonic thrill and I could see how attentively the hardcore who’d got there first were taking it... the weather was perfect and the LSO ticked all the boxes in introducing hundreds, possibly thousands, to their first classical concert.'
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The Times, 28 May 2013
'Berlioz loved public occasions, he loved excess, and he would have loved being wildly fêted. The London Symphony Orchestra’s second annual free outdoor concert, conducted by an almost smiling Valery Gergiev, ticked all three boxes handsomely. And the gods of music even persuaded the sun to shine throughout.'
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Sinfini.com - 28 May 2013
'...the performance felt immediate, exciting and brimming with life. I was not alone in this feeling. Right at the front I could make out a little girl dancing wildly and instinctively, channelling the music with all her heart and soul.'
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Valery Gergiev 60th Birthday Gala Concert

Wed 22 May 2013, Barbican

The Times, 24 May 2013
'Bending over the piano keys as if checking for insect infestation, Alexander Toradze dashed through the notes with the lightest of touches.'
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The Guardian, 24 May 2013
'Kavakos, meanwhile, offered three bravura pieces on Gypsy themes – the Rondo from Paganini's B Minor Concerto, Ravel's Tzigane and Sarasate's Zigeunerweisen – all done with exquisite tone and staggering virtuosity.'
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Financial Times, 25/26 May 2013
'...Gergiev conducted with self effacing grace.'
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Classical Source, 26 May 2013
'Proceedings were held together by Gergiev's careful attention. The sublime slow movement found Toradze indulging the notes, and the finale was delivered brashly.'
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Daily Mail, 24 May 2013
'Mr Gergiev, who received a standing ovation at the end of the  concert, said: ‘Tonight has been full of joy.’
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Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Tchaikovsky & Lutoslawski

Sun 19 May 2013, Barbican

The Times, 21 May 2013
...the London Symphony Orchestra appeared on Sunday in extraordinarily fine fettle. Ensemble spirit; firm attach; precisely sculptured phrasings; brilliantly varied colours: all these qualities rang out sharply...

Classicalsource.com, 20 May 2013
Very particular timbres made meaningful contributions, and the whole was bounded into a scintillating conclusion, the LSO in rapacious form. Such virtuosity served only the music and brought a symphonic success.
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Entartete Musik, 20 May 2013
...when the finale finally burst through, Pappano and the orchestra responded with a no-holds-barred approach. Teetering on the dangerous, this rapid attack felt entirely justified within the context of such a sensitive reading and it provided a fitting conclusion to a largely thrilling pair of concerts.
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Sir Antonio Pappano conducts Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich

Thu 16 May 2013, Barbican

The Guardian, 19 May 2013
Pappano and the LSO certainly played their part in the unremitting focus of the Shostakovich, the winds interweaving eloquently with the solo violin in its bleak reflections.
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Evening Standard, 17 May 2013
Antonio Pappano, no stranger to the LSO, has been conducting Tchaikovsky symphonies with them in Italy and brought the Fifth to London last night, along with Shostakovich’s First Violin Concerto, in performances that blazed with passion and originality.
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Classicalsource.com, 17 May 2013
...there was a perfectly judged subtlety of rubato in Pappano’s direction. The LSO responded effortlessly and gave him a tremendously rich array of tone.
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Sir John Eliot Gardiner 70th Birthday Concert/Stravinsky

Thu 25 Apr 2013, Barbican

Opera Britannia, 27 April 2013
The London Symphony Orchestra really were firing on all four cylinders: dynamic, playful woodwinds, agile strings, and the brass fanfares at the end could scarcely have been bettered.
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The Guardian, 26 Apr 2013
Not a single dramatic detail was missed; Gardiner ensured that everything was vividly present and straight to the dramatic point.
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The Independent, 26 Apr 2013
The echoes of Bach (in the choruses) and of Verdi and Bellini (in the arias) rang out majestically, with the LSO on top form.
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Evening Standard, 26 Apr 2013
Gardiner obtained razor-sharp rhythms and cracked-ice wind and brass sonorities from his players. The clarinet triplets in Jocasta’s aria were splendidly grotesque, while the trumpet fanfares heralding her death were at once regal and minatory.
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Bachtrack, 26 Apr 2013
The modestly-sized string orchestra, with violins and basses standing in a tight semicircle around the seated inner parts, produced an elegant, full sound for this mellifluous, often indulgent piece. From the deepest of pizzicato twangs to the lightest of trills, this picture-perfect rendition gave the impression that not a single detail in the score had gone unnoticed.
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Classical Source, 26 Apr 2013
In a nutshell, this was a dramatic and compelling performance – more opera than oratorio – that found the LSO in blistering (brilliant brass) and sensitive form…The LSO did Sir John Eliot proud, and he in turn produced memorable insights and a wholeness of approach into these works of genius.
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Arts Desk, 26 Apr 2013
As Oedipus, Stuart Skelton was near-ideal: it’s difficult to get a tenor who can cope both with the Monteverdian melismas and a stentorian leadership that quickly falters.
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Juan Diego Flórez & Friends

Sun 21 Apr 2013, Barbican

The Guardian, 25 Apr 2013
Flórez refused to hog the limelight, and the evening belonged to DiDonato, on stupendous form in excerpts from Rossini's Cenerentola and Bellini's I Capuleti ed i Montecchi.
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The Times, 23 Apr 2013
Baritone Marco Caria chipped in usefully, and the LSO delivered a sizzling mini-opera of their own in Verdi’s action-packed overture to I vespri siciliani.
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Daily Telegraph, 22 Apr 2013
...hearing Florez and DiDonato on top form was more than enough to keep the audience blissfully happy.
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Britten Turn of the Screw - Richard Farnes et al

Tue 16 & Thu 18 Apr 2013, Barbican

MusicOMH, 20 Apr 2013
The act of hearing the music delivered from a stage as opposed to orchestral pit also proved highly interesting in the way that it seemed to produce a cleaner, more delineated, sound. The wind playing stood out in particular, as did that of Susanna Stranders on the piano and celeste.
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The Guardian, 17 Apr 2013
Each instrumentalist performed with the conviction and character of a soloist, and none was less than outstanding...More than anything, this was a performance that stressed the sheer quality of the score itself – something of which Davis, who believed strongly that the music was boss and the conductor the servant, would have been proud.
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Financial Times, 17 Apr 2013
The 13 solo players from the LSO proved highly skilled, the string duos at the opening of the second act setting off a series of especially unearthly instrumental sounds. The conductor, Richard Farnes, had been mentored in Sibelius by Sir Colin and paced Britten’s opera here unerringly.
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Evening Standard, 17 Apr 2013
Sir Colin may not have been a Britten specialist but Turn of the Screw was a personal favourite and the performance proved a worthy and appropriate tribute.
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Classical Source, 17 Apr 2013
A seventeen-strong ensemble, largely made up of section principals, delivered a virtuosic and intelligently detailed account of the opera’s pellucid instrumentation; in particular the piano and celesta were luminously played by Susanna Stranders, who had also served as both répétiteur and vocal coach for these renditions.
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LSO Futures Week: Symphonic Soundworlds - Francois-Xavier Roth

Sat 13 Apr 2013 7.30pm, Barbican

The Guardian, 15 Apr 2013
Particularly successful were Toby Young's dance escapade, Larry Goves's dreamscape and Raymond Yiu's animated allegro, but under the motivating baton of François-Xavier Roth, the entire performance was vital and secure.
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Daily Telegraph, 15 Apr 2013
The ninth [Panufnik] variation from Anjula Semmens was the most striking, burgeoning out from its pastoral-oboe beginnings in a surprising and thought-provoking way.
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Bachtrack, 16 Apr 2013
Wardener’s capacity to imbue the most chaotic and erudite of orchestral fragments with meaning made for a perceptive opening variation, while Yiu’s sagacious fusions of Chinese and jazz idioms were full of charm and currency.
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Classical Source, 15 Apr 2013
It is invidious to pick out only one principal player, but leader Roman Simovic was outstanding, and he had more than his fair share of violin solos to address, in Adams, Webern and Debussy.
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MusicOMH.com, 16 Apr 2013
Roth clearly knows these orchestral variants well, and he marshalled the large forces of the LSO into a well-disciplined troupe of players, peeling away Boulez’ multiple layers of harmony and tonal complexity. The stridently rhythmic third and fifth Notations (based on numbers four and two in the piano version) were particularly thrilling.
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The Times, 14 Apr 2013
[Panufnik Variations] worked miraculously well: Panufnik’s striding theme appeared in a microcosm of mists and miasmas from Max de Wardener; in an ironic, bluesy take by Christopher Mayo; shining in edgy, sparkling fragments in a scherzando by Elizabeth Winters; in a wind-blown pastoral by Anjula Semmens. And the LSO’s playing was enthusiastic and committed.
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LSO Futures Week: Contemporary Chamber Works - Francois-Xavier Roth

Sat 13 Apr 2013 5pm, Barbican

The Guardian, 15 Apr 2013
[Jason Yarde's Modo Hit Blow's] three sections, scored for brass, then percussion, then both together, with the two soloists filtering jazzier inflections into the modernist surround, packed a considerable punch even in a programme that included masterpieces by Varèse and Stravinsky.
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Daily Telegraph, 15 Apr 2013
...the performances, led by Francois-Xavier Roth, were a marvel. I’ve rarely heard the aloof ceremonial of Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments rendered so precisely, or so movingly.
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Bachtrack, 16 Apr 2013
Roth’s serrated gestures prompted a thrilling performance [Varèse Ionisations] from the LSO players and effectively straightjacketted this music into a ruthless chess game of dissipation and order.
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Classical Source, 15 Apr 2013
one could only send a “Bravo!” to the indefatigable performance [of John Adams' Chamber Symphony] that the LSO members gave us.
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The Times, 14 Apr 2013
[Jason Yarde's Modo Hit Blow] three continuous sections moved from all brass, to brass and percussion, and on to complete ensemble, with snatches of improvisation amid the darting, hot-footed virtuoso writing.
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London Jazz News, 14 Apr 2013
The highlight of the rest of the programme was Stravinsky's Symphonies of Wind Instruments. To my ears this felt more or less like the definitive performance, for its Boulez-like precision and its pathos, for the perfectly weighted final chords, and for showing three of the LSO's bright young stars: flautist Adam Walker, bass clarinettist Lorenzo Iosco  and trumpeter Philip Cobb.
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LSO Futures Week: UBS Soundscapes: Eclectica - Tansy Davies

Tue 9 Apr 2013, LSO St Luke's

The Guardian, 11 Apr 2013
There are few composers prepared, minutes before the close of a concert devoted to their recent work, to give it some with an electric guitar. Tansy Davies, though, is one.
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Mozart/Mahler - Nikolaj Znaider/Piotr Anderszewski

Thu 4 Apr 2013, Barbican

The Times, 7 Apr 2013
I have to admit that this Mahler Five was spine-shudderingly good. Mostly that was because it was so well played. When the London Symphony Orchestra is in this kind of brutally virtuosic, take-no-prisoners mood, it becomes an irresistible force that drives the music on like snow in an avalanche.
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Classical Source, 7 Apr 2013
lean, clean and where appropriate satisfyingly mean, the playing brimming with character – the strings meshing with Znaider’s precise conducting style as if greased and delivering a sensational variety of tone and attack that flattered the superb brass and woodwind.
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