November 2012

Leonidas Kavakos/Nikolai Lugansky recital

Fri 30 Nov 2012, Barbican Hall

The Guardian, 2 Dec 2012
It was a real treat: they're both fantastic players, at once intelligent and intense, and together they form a genuine partnership of equals, with no sense of the piano taking a subordinate or accompanying role.
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Nesbit/Beethoven/Walton - Sir John Eliot Gardiner/Sunwook Kim

Thu 29 Nov 2012, Barbican Hall

The Arts Desk, 30 Nov 2012
For the second time this season (Petrenko in Elgar’s First Symphony was the first) a great British symphony has enjoyed a great British performance.
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Classical Source, 30 Nov 2012
The interplay between Kim and an LSO on peak form took us to the heart of the matter, with an acute sense of classical style rare in any pianist. Everything flowed effortlessly and yet had the ‘gift to be simple’ whilst never sounding bland ...  this was a pleasure from start to finish and a particularly successful collaboration.
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Berg/Mahler - Semyon Bychkov/Leonidas Kavakos

Sun 25 Nov 2012, Barbican Hall

Independent on Sunday, 2 Dec 2012
The blazing tumult and silky melody of the finale is hard to forget. "From inferno to paradise" was Mahler's description.
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Seen and Heard, 29 Nov 2012
Bychkov and the LSO provided sensitive accompaniment with fine contributions wind and brass soloists and Phillip Cobb on first trumpet particularly notable.
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The Times, 27 Nov 2012
In the first movement we palpably felt every breath of the inhalation and exhalation of life, within a potent sense of tense anticipation.
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Bachtrack, 27 Nov 2012
Bychkov’s unfussy, batonless conducting, showing a wonderful fluidity of gesture, brought the music to its still conclusion with fine orchestral playing all around.
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Daily Telegraph, 26 Nov 2012
As if inspired by Kavakos’s example, the orchestra attained a pearly delicacy of sound, especially in the closing pages where they lofted the soloist’s long line heavenwards with delicate tact.
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The Guardian, 26 Nov 2012
...where Bychkov made his mark most firmly was in the finale, when he lingered so lovingly over the lyrical string melody that it seemed to carry the weight of a slow movement in itself, ready to explode into noisy, unabashed happiness as the symphony closed.
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Evening Standard, 26 Nov 2012
Quiet passages were allowed to recede almost into silence, which only added to the impact when, as Mahler frequently demands, the orchestra let rip. At the climax, the eight horn players stood up like a well-drilled big band; Mahler would have been proud.
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The Arts Desk, 26 Nov 2012
It is pointless to single out individual sections of the orchestra for special praise: the symphony makes demands on every musician present. It came together goosebumpingly well.
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Classical Source, 26 Nov 2012
The tempestuous finale crashed in appropriately, the LSO cruising over the waves, and in the slower and reflective section the strings (once again) were sumptuous, solemn and rapt, burgeoning gloriously with a range of touch and dynamics. The Jaws of Hell were also in evidence, and come the eventual triumph, Bychkov and the LSO were striding forth majestically arm in arm.
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