Finley, in a deeply moving performance, is in many ways the protagonist here, a melancholy, alienated figure who eventually finds contentment in acceptance of the eternal renewal of nature. Crowe, in superb voice, makes a wonderful Vixen, mischievous, charismatic, naive yet tender in her duet with Burgos.
Read full review
The emotionally pent-up playing in the mystery-laden build-up to the work’s ending seemed to suggest that something very special was about to happen, and so it proved to be. That final climax had a particularly triumphal quality and formed a perfect end to a memorable evening.
Read full review
Cohesive narrative was maintained through persuasively shaped phrasing. Eye contact with the woodwinds – and over-the-shoulder glances at the violins – teased out dialogues, especially in the central movement which took on the quality of intimate chamber music. [Alica Sara Ott] transformed the finale into a playful Scherzo, playing cat and mouse with the orchestra.
Read full review
No indulgences needed to be made for the students of the Guildhall School of Music next door. They slotted seamlessly within the ranks of the LSO to conjure a luminous halo of string sound...
Read full review
All received revelatory performances, whether in the hyperactive, almost anarchic figuration conjured up in his left hand through the scherzo of Beethoven’s E flat Sonata Op 31 No 3, or the glittering decoration in the Andante Favori
Read full review
Rattle offered some of the gentlest, tenderest phrasing I have ever heard in this movement, with dynamics often pared down to a whisper, like watching in a slow-frame sequence groups of young maidens floating through summer meadows and picking posies of wildflowers.
Read full review
Playing a Fazioli instrument, he never made an ugly sound even amid the motor rhythms and fusillades of the finale, and in the central movement he conjured up the innocence of a world lost for ever.
Read full review
From shimmering to sonorous (but never too loud or brass-heavy), the LSO and its Guildhall guests made for an impressive coming-together of youthful and experienced talent…All in all, an inspiring evening.
Read full review
The performance was everything one might have hoped.
Read full review
Noseda and the LSO surpassed themselves in their openness to Berlioz’s astounding originality, and the playing was superbly idiomatic, with a saturated sound that kept its transparency. Tamestit is the subject of the LSO’s Artist Portrait next season – so that’s something to look forward to.
Read full review
…the total impact was awesome… Could anyone top that? Send in Daniil Trifonov.
Read full review (subscription required)
The poise of the strings’ opening phrases, Trifonov’s subtle touch and the elegiac feeling Cobb brought when the muted trumpet takes up the theme, bestowed a magical benediction.
Read full review
Both Julia Fischer’s account of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and the LSO’s quite superlative account Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra were streets ahead of any of the many live performances one has heard.
Read full review
