November 2010

Shchedrin/Mahler - Valery Gergiev/Olli Mustonen

Fri 19 Nov 2010 7.30pm

The Times, 24 Nov 2010
Philip Cobb, [Maurice Murphy's] successor, gilded a dazzling dawn chorus of a first movement, and led the orchestra “from inferno to Paradise”, as Mahler had it, in the finale.
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The Guardian, 23 Nov 2010
The LSO was on fine form, and even better in Mahler's First Symphony in the second half ... The LSO's former principal trumpet, Maurice Murphy, to whose memory the concert was dedicated, would have been pleased to hear the brass section sounding so exuberant.
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musicOMH.com, 23 Nov 2010
[Mustonen] brought out the sparkling high register writing of the solo part, given a metallic glint by Shchedrin's bright and imaginative use of percussion, while Gergiev kept a firm hand on the tiller.
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classicalmusic.com, 20 Nov 2010
... perfectly judged string balance at the opening, nicely placed off-stage trumpets, a correct and involving second movement, an identifiably Ivesian layering of lines towards the end of the slow movement and superb string playing in the finale.
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bachtrack.com, 20 Nov 2010
Remarkably for Mahler, this felt like the shortest performance of the symphony in memory, a sure testament to the LSO’s ability to engage an audience, revealing the geography of the piece over a vast journey.
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theartsdesk.com, 21 Nov 2010
I wasn't expecting a great deal from Shchedrin after the critical drubbing the opening salvo in this mini celebration received on theartsdesk. But, despite passages that stewed in a vat of concentrated Shostakovich for far too long, I was pleasantly surprised overall.
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Elgar/Mendelssohn - Sir Colin Davis/Nikolaj Znaider

Wed 10 Nov 2010 7.30pm

The Times, 11 Nov 2010
... what a meltingly gorgeous sound. In the famous cadenza, with the orchestral strings strumming like mandolins, 2,000 people hardly dared to breathe. It was like a seance: Kreisler, the fiddle, Elgar and that secret love affair were in the room with us, vividly recreated. Indeed, the London Symphony Orchestra’s accompaniment, under Colin Davis’s direction, was outstanding throughout: no small achievement in an interpretation where no two consecutive bars were played at the same tempo.
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The Guardian, 11 Nov 2010
The striking ideas came from Davis and the orchestra, whose pungent detail constantly set the solo line in sharp relief.
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Financial Times, 11 Nov 2010
Easily the outstanding feature of the evening was Znaider’s eloquence in the concerto.
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classicalsource.com, 11 Nov 2010
... Colin Davis and the LSO addressed the symphony as a four-movements-in-one whole, the attaccas spot on, tempo-relationships seamless.
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Berio/Liszt/Berlioz - Daniel Harding/Alice Sara Ott/Tabea Zimmermann

Sun 7 Nov 2010 7.30pm

The Guardian, 10 Nov 2010
The LSO is rarely bettered in Berlioz, and Harding, whether summoning up the sound of distant bells or presiding over the frenzy of the brigands' orgy, was electrifying.
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Financial Times, 9 Nov 2010
Tabea Zimmermann, immediately recognisable from her rich tone, was again the viola soloist and, though Harding does not possess the romantic palette available to master Berlioz colourist Davis, he certainly kept the adrenalin pumping. There was some blistering playing from the LSO.
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The Times, 8 Nov 2010
Dark-voiced diablerie danced out of the third movement wit its tingling triangle, and Ott’s fingers leapt from the keyboard as though scalded by the heat of hell.
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classicalsource.com, 8 Nov 2010
...the LSO and Harding were with her [Alice Sara Ott] all the way, and there was nothing stand-in about her playing - indeed she seemed to savour every moment – or the evident teamwork established in an instant, Andrew Marriner gracing the first movement with some liquid clarinet solos.
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Donatella Flick Conducting Competition

Thu 4 Nov 2010 7.30pm

The Independent, 9 Nov 2010
[Clemens Schuldt] then delievered Wagner's Prelude and Liebestod with such delicately layered textures, such perfectly judged suspensions, and such nobility of expression, a win seemed a foregone conclusion.