Chen plays a fine solo part in Bruch and delights with his encore; Orozco-Estrada and the LPO provide some good moments but fall short of their best form.
The audience responded as if they were hearing the Symphony for the first time. They were overwhelmed and let the musicians know it. Good start to the home stand.
Assured and mostly rewarding performances from the RPO in standard fare that underlined Bruch’s nobility, Elgar’s masterly orchestration and the originality of Sibelius.
They hung over the fronts of their seats waiting for each movement to begin; they were silent, immovable once the music started. When the music stopped they exploded with joy.
Julius Drake, Krzysztof Chorzelski and Mark Padmore contributed their notable gifts of piano, viola and voice respectively in a very special, often heartfelt fundraising evening for two music education charities.
In the sublime funeral march of the Larghetto Elder set a daringly slow tempo, producing a cumulative, sorrowing eloquence as each LSO section tossed its melodic tribute on to the passing cortège.
An enterprising programme combined a striking WWI commemoration from Mark-Anthony Turnage with sumptuous ballet suites from Prokofiev and Ravel, with Nikolaj Znaider rhapsodic in Bruch.
The Bamberg sound remains particularly noticeable in the unanimity and broad, rich beauty of the strings and the sublimely eloquent woodwinds, and the musical authority that lies in the roots of its history.
Debussy provided a scintillating introduction to Hilary Hahn’s glorious rendering of Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor and Prokofiev’s fiery Fifth Symphony.
A lively William Tell Overture from Pappano and lyrical Bruch from LSO leader, Roman Simović, preceded a majestic performance of Strauss' Alpine Symphony.
Callum Smart, playing Bruch’s Violin Concerto no. 1 in G minor, and conductor Matthew Halls made very successful debuts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at a packed Cheltenham Town Hall.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, its Music Director Charles Dutoit, Principal Guest Conductor Pinchas Zukerman and Martha Argerich party in style with Rossini, Schumann, Bruch and Stravinsky.
A varied concert of new music by Anthony Payne, Max Bruch's 1st Violin Concerto with Ray Chen, a Tchaikovsky rarity and a rousing early work by Vaughan Williams
Mendelsohn's Italian Symphony is a perenial and popular favourite, but perhaps one with which we are over-familiar. Could young Alpesh Chauhan do something fresh with it?
The Romantic fervour of Brahms' Haydn Variations and Schumann's Spring Symphony brought out by Cristian Mandeal and the Hallé, plus Sophia Jaffé's glorious performance of Bruch's Scottish Fantasy.
The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra revealed itself at the Concertgebouw as an important part of the future of classical music in the United States.
The Czech Philharmonic performing Mahler’s Second Symphony at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall equals great expectation. The composer and symphony have historical links to the orchestra and venue alike. Could Bělohlávek deliver?
An unusual programme of music from the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, viewing the passing of youth through a lens of nostalgia and sadness but, at the same time, also dreaming of the sheer joy and exuberance of youth.
Coupled with its exquisite landscape, the mystery and legend that permeate Scotland’s atmosphere and history have inspired poets, artists and composers to capture its magic and distinctive folklore in evocative works of art.
Neville Marriner conducts Christopher Palmer’s arrangement of a Walton film score, while Joshua Bell delivers magic with Max Bruch and the Academy of St Martin in the Fields.
The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland Junior Orchestra's summer concert: one hundred talented 8-13 year-olds from all over Scotland have fun taking their first orchestral steps.
NBA Ballet performed an ambitous triple bill consisting of three 20th century masterpieces of American Ballet, Great Galloping Gottschalk, The Leaves are Fading and Bruch Violin Concerto No.1. At Melpark Hall.
On walking into the foyer of Colston Hall, I was greeted by the sound of a jazz band playing The Girl from Ipanema. This was not quite what I expected from the Colston Hall’s “Symphony Project”, but nevertheless a tasteful and welcoming opening, that created a cheerful atmosphere.
Former chief conductor Gianandrea Noseda made a well-received return to the BBC Philharmonic, conducting a popular programme of Verdi, Bruch and Beethoven.Noseda and the BBC Phil attracted widespread attention in 2006 when they offered free downloads of their entire Beethoven symphony cycle. Demand was huge, with some 1.6 million copies downloaded.
Of the two major orchestras performing in Auckland, the Auckland Philharmonia consistently has the more interesting programming (in recent reviews I’ve praised them in everything from Messiaen to Bach). It was interesting, then, to hear them in the bread-and-butter symphonic repertoire of Bruch and Brahms.
Thomas Dausgaard conducted energetic performances of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto and Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, producing a great deal of fine playing though occasionally at the expense of long structure.Norwegian violinist Henning Kraggerud was soloist for the Bruch.
Pinchas Zukerman shares a category in my mind with Stevie Wonder. I recall seeing their names on so many LPs in my youth that they had been filed as being of a certain vintage. Investigation revealed both protégés to be much nearer my own age than I could have believed. In this performance of Bruch’s 1886 Violin Concerto no.
Despite the accolades heaped upon the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle’s performance and recording of this version of Bruckner’s 9th symphony with its unfinished finale, performances worldwide remain few and far between.
Prom 31 seems to have been loosely based around a royal theme, with two of several nods at this year’s Proms to the Coronation anniversary: explicitly, in the case of William Walton’s Orb and Sceptre march, which he wrote for the 1953 ceremony, and obliquely by way of Edmund Rubbra’s Ode to the Queen, which the BBC commissioned for the Coronation celebrations.
Though the visitation of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra happened just over a week ago, we have a more permanent influence from that part of the world in the person of Alan Buribayev, the Principal Conductor of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, who hails from Kazakhstan.
Mischa Maisky, the de-facto romantic cellist, gave the Istanbul audience a triple treat of passionate cello playing in Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Bruch, but surprisingly enough he was in most uninhibited during the Haydn concerto.Mr Maisky’s vibrato is excessive, a trait inherited from his longtime teacher and mentor Gregor Piatigorsky, but it never gets in the way of music.
The citizens of Birmingham were queueing up at the door when I arrived in good time for this concert, and the hall was nearly full when the concert began. All seats were unreserved and at the same price wherever you sat – an arrangement that has always appealed to me.
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.
Though often played with far greater forces, the Beethoven and Mendelssohn played in this concert were well suited to the small size and immediacy of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Directed energetically from the leader’s chair by Joshua Bell, they gave crisp and clear performances which highlighted the chamber-style aspects of these works.
