La travesía de anoche nos llevó por las más variadas tierras de la imaginación musical: desde la Italia barroca y clásica de Vivaldi, Handel y Mozart hasta la Finlandia de Sibelius y del director Rouvali, pasando por la Rusia de Julia Lezhneva.
Simon Trpčeski gives a commendable performance of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, whilst Gabriel Bebeşelea conducts the Ulster Orchestra in a thought-provoking Sibelius Second Symphony.
Excellent performances by James Gaffigan and The Cleveland Orchestra of music by Barber, Mendelssohn, and Sibelius made for an enjoyable summer evening at the Blossom Music Festival. Stephen Hough was an outstanding piano soloist.
With its vertiginous vocal leaps and broad intervals, Komsi's pure pitch-perfect soprano soared like the eldrich keening of a sea bird. The spareness and incantatory intensity were heightened by the BBCSO and Oramo.
Denève dirigierte das RCO in Amsterdam mit der Uraufführung von Erkki-Sven Tüürs Piccolokonzert. Ravels Konzertsuite Ma Mère l'Oye war zuvor in Schlichtheit und Klangschönheit kaum zu überbieten.
Some rare and some great Shostakovich meet in concert while the BBC National Orchestra of Wales make an engrossing case for Sibelius' great Second Symphony.
The Iceland Symphony Orchestra's tour to the acoustically excellent Göteborgs konserthus in Sweden for a concert of Sibelius, Strauss and Thorvaldsdóttir was an obvious success, demonstrating an orchestral sound that deserves to be heard abroad more often.
Yutaka Sado and the Tonkünstler excel in the epic passages of the Sibelius and the outer movements of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, less convincing in more lyrical moments.
The Cleveland Orchestra’s Chicago appearance with music director Franz Welser-Möst offered symphonies of Beethoven and Sibelius in performances that exuded both precision and beauty.
Kazuki Yamada combines Japanese deference with full control of his players to lead he CBSO to fine performances of Beethoven and Sibelius, with a relatively laid back performance of the Elgar Cello concerto.
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra produced a varied programme at their Lighthouse concert, but with mixed results: illuminating Walton, but uneven Sibelius.
Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the CSO in a bracing account of Sibelius' Second Symphony, while Emanuel Ax sparkled in an elegant take on Beethoven's Fourth Piano Concerto.
Santtu-Matias Rouvali is an exciting conductor to watch, totally at home in the all-nordic repertoire of Sibelius and Martinsson, in whose concerto Håkan Hardenberger displayed his total mastery of the trumpet.
Vladimir Jurowski andthe London Philharmonic Orchestra produced an intriguing programme with some rare Taneyev, invigorating Tchaikovsky and fresh Sibelius.
The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Thomas Dausgaard open a cycle of symphonies by one of this year's birthday boys at the Proms, Jean Sibelius, prefaced by a signature work.
Le 11 juin 2015, sous la baguette de Vladimir Ashkenazy, cinq œuvres de Sibelius étaient au programme du Philharmonia Orchestra, dont la Symphonie n°2. Une exploration originale de la musique du finlandais, soutenue par une interprétation travaillée et réfléchie.
Ahead of its US tour with Michael Tilson Thomas, the London Symphony Orchestra flexed its muscles in a display of orchestral strength on home turf in the Barbican.
Principal Guest Conductor Thomas Dausgaard's thrills-to-the-max approach for Sibelius' first two symphonies promises an adventure-filled complete cycle at Seattle Symphony's festival celebrating the legendary Finnish composer.
Of all the celebrations to mark the 150th anniversary of Jean Sibelius in 2015, the Berlin Philharmonic’s Barbican residency must rank pretty high, with all seven symphonies in three concerts on successive days.
La venue du mythique chef finlandais Leif Segerstam était un événement en soi : transfigurant l'Orchestre National de France, il l'a aussi fait accéder au cercle très fermé des orchestres « sibéliens ». Du grand art !
In a well constructed programme of Sibelius, Maxwell Davies and Bridge, good energy and many moments of beautiful orchestral playing are marred by timing errors and dynamics.
A programme of works by Kaija Saariaho and Jean Sibelius promised a blast of Nordic ice down the back of the neck, but the performances under fellow Finn Esa-Pekka Salonen raised the temperature considerably higher than anticipated.
It’s unfair but tempting to pigeonhole pianists: the intense Mitsuko Uchida; the powerful Martha Argerich; the stately Alicia de Larrocha; and the vivacious Maria João Pires.
The second instalment in the BBC Philharmonic’s Sibelius cycle saw the mighty Second Symphony paired with the darker Fourth at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall. Both received superb performances.The Fourth is perhaps the hardest to enjoy of Sibelius’ seven symphonies. It lacks the obvious heroism of the First, Second, Fifth and Seventh and ends bleakly.
Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall is by no means a modest-sized concert stage, and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra seemed to take up every square inch of it. The sheer size of the orchestra is initially what struck me, until the opening lines of Rolf Martinsson’s Open Mind, Op. 71.
Johannes Brahms was a Romantic with a capital R. Born six years after Beethoven’s death, Brahms was so determined to continue the composer’s colossal musical legacy that he labored over his First Symphony (often nicknamed “Beethoven’s Tenth”) for over a decade. He spent nearly as much time laboring over his Piano Concerto no.
Severance Hall was full on Saturday evening for the Cleveland Orchestra debut of one of the hottest young conductors on the scene today: Robin Ticciati. Not yet 30, Mr Ticciati is conductor of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Music Director-designate at Glyndebourne.
The pre-concert talk is a firm favourite with many RSNO regulars. Situated in what feels like an impromptu chapel near the Upper Circle Bar, this 25-minute exploration attracts a congregation which spills well beyond the hundred or so seats laid out.
It was a year ago at the Jane Mallett Theatre when the 24-year-old French pianist Lise de la Salle made her Toronto debut in a solo recital of Debussy, Liszt and Ravel. That recital was a sensation and left lasting impression in the hearts of many Torontonians.
A sunny Sunday afternoon at Colston Hall marked the return of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to Bristol after over a decade away. The orchestra played alongside Argentinian cellist Sol Gabetta for a moving performance of Edward Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor. This was accompanied on either side by Sergei Prokofiev’s Symphony no. 1 and Jean Sibelius’ Symphony no. 2.
Sir Mark Elder opened The Hallé’s 2012-13 season with two large works whose darker and more introverted aspects were highlighted very effectively. A disappointingly small audience turned out (the hall was perhaps half full) but the music was very much full and energised.
Rarely have I seen a conductor so excited! On completion of Shostakovich’s Festive Overture, Michael Seal looked like the cat that got the cream – and rightly so. He had just launched his audience into this concert with a terrific bang.
Sibelius – whose unique voice straddles Romanticism, folk music, and the inklings of Modernism – can be a tricky composer to perform. His lush, expansive sonorities can sound simply loud and louder, plowing over the singable melodies and tiny gestures later transformed into full-blown themes. Not so in the hands of Sir Colin Davis.
