The Miraculous Mandarin – Classical Source
Roth drove this uncompromising score forward with a thrilling and theatrical precision.
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Roth drove this uncompromising score forward with a thrilling and theatrical precision.
Haïm brought out the acrobatic grotesquery of the Monkey’s Dance and the final Chaconne had a glittering quality at its close.
The Finale was everything it should be – the noble theme erupting into a frenzy of charged emotions, stoically battling on … Noseda and the LSO went at it with a fervour and volatility that proved devastating.
[Cargill] also hones the most exquisite tone colours, the perfect match for the LSO's hyper-refinement under Pappano.
The Allegro marcato swung along with plenty of insouciance and caustic bite – all superbly balanced and showcasing individual LSO talents to pleasing effect.
Most impressive of all was Pappano’s well-prepared, glamorous interpretation of Vaughan Williams furious Symphony no. 4 ... with a cleanness of delivery that revealed the carefully conceived intricacies of the orchestration.
In Tilson Thomas’ hands, the opening of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto had the ominous quality of an opera overture and there was an appropriately vocal quality in the playing of his soloist, Nicola Benedetti.
Searing and magnificently played, this was the kind of performance that seemed to present as if for the first time all the anger, nostalgia, pride and sorrow of this hammering symphony.
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The orchestra was magnificent throughout, with a Queen Mab scherzo of hair-trigger responses as Berlioz’s fabulous orchestration dazzled with kaleidoscopic brilliance.
The key change at the climax was shattering, the ensuing restoration of calm rather uneasy… a fine Seventh Symphony, continuing Noseda’s impressive Shostakovich cycle.
The gossamer strings of the Andante took on a special, consolatory meaning, the LSO strings’ sheen a glory in and of itself. A beautiful, slow outpouring, it includes nevertheless a figure that holds, at first pass, an echo of that grotesque element before its edges are blunted and it is absorbed by the surrounding calm.
From the stirrings of the lower strings at the outset of the Finale … and the commanding snapped pizzicatos that followed, there was a collective sense of a gathering resolution, aided by pulses of rhythmic energy and propulsion.
Kazushi Ono... provided the ideal security for orchestral playing and stunning singing to fly... There's never a dull moment with Janáček, the supreme oddball genius.
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