Korngold's Violin Concerto from Simone Lamsma is delivered with extraordinary deftness and depth, while Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances thrill under Yan Pascal Tortelier and the Pittsburgh Symphony.
A disparate set of pieces are connected to an intriguing theme in mostly successful performances, including Shostakovich from cellist Alisa Weilerstein.
Uncertain Britten from Dausgaard and the RPO, but intense and passionate Elgar from Isserlis, and powerfully engaging Rachmaninov featuring exceptional woodwind playing from the RPO.
Rachmaninov had a strange fascination with the Dies irae chant. For last night’s concert, Andrés Orozco-Estrada prefaced the Symphonic Dances with a rendition of this Gregorian Chant.
‘Dancing with the Orchestra’ was the last subscription concert of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and two compositions with a focus on dance bookended Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto no. 2.
Russian repertoire is second nature to Mariss Jansons and this programme at the Barbican with his Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra was easily the finest music-making I’d heard all year.
A sadly under-attended concert by Stéphane Denève and the Brussels Philharmonic saw fine technique and a clear appreciation of the final pieces of Rachmaninov and Prokofiev's careers.
The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasiliy Petrenko make a guest visit to Sage Gateshead, bringing their contributions by Ravel and Rachmaninov to this year's concert theme of Dance.
In true Olympian spirit, Marin Alsop and her São Paulo Symphony Orchestra dived head first into the drama of Brazilian music, with luxurious Rachmaninov and Gabriela Montero freely expressive in Grieg.
Semyon Bychkov continued to develop his noble synergy with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in exemplary Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, although Kristine Opolais made for a tepid debut.
The energising figure of Vladimir Ashkenazy presided over this all-Russian programme in a concert that showcased the prodigious gifts of Denis Kozhukhin.
A packed audience congregated in Wigmore Hall’s temple to pay homage at a very special concert in which Martha Argerich joined Stephen Kovacevich to mark his 75th birthday.
One of the most anticipated Proms of the season was met with queues snaking down Prince Consort Road, resulting in a packed Arena – the Berliner Philharmoniker has that effect.
On Friday 4 October at the Maison Symphonique in Montreal, Show One Productions in association with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal presented the visiting Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra of St Petersburg conducted by its music director for the last 25 years, Valery Gergiev.
Although Vasily Petrenko only gave his first concert as chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra last week, Monday’s Prom heralded this as an exciting new partnership. In a programme built around dreams and fantasy, Petrenko led the orchestra through some fantastic performances, with their Tchaikovsky especially praiseworthy.
An allegiance to Welsh performers and composers is a major feature of this year’s tour by the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, with two native contemporary scores on the programme performed by a Welsh soloist and conductor. It could easily become cosy and parochial, but the results were amongst the NYOW’s finest achievements in recent years.
The National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain brought a small dose of the Southbank Centre’s year long celebration of 20th-century music, The Rest is Noise, to the North East, with a programme of bold and colourful music written by European exiles in America, music that looked to the future, and music that celebrated the best of what had been left behind.
For a composer who embraces the “popular” in music, using the subtitle High Art for his trumpet concerto is clearly a provocative but bold statement. Australian composer Graham Koehne has quoted Noël Coward’s play Private Lives, commenting: “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is”.
When French-Canadian pianists Louis Lortie and Hélène Mercier entered the stage of the Koerner Hall on Sunday, the 800-plus audience participated with an unprecedented level of attention. An episode also occurred to enforce this attention.
San Francisco Ballet, one of the oldest, biggest and most prestigious American companies, was last here eight years ago; their return – to judge by the buzzing crowd packing out Sadler’s Wells last night – has been eagerly awaited.
Last night’s program with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was one of those to really get your teeth into, with substantial, complex works by Brahms and Rachmaninov, and only a short amount of respite provided by Dvořák. This was serious music in the form of the heavyweight Brahms Piano Concerto no. 1, which contains almost too much music to comprehend in one sitting.
In the early years of the 20th century, along the streets of Paris, a society of writers, artists, and musicians—among them Maurice Ravel—known as Les Apaches would exchange the secret greeting devised for members to recognize each other.
St David’s Hall’s International Concert Series continued tonight, transporting the audience on a journey around Europe. This was the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse’s debut performance in Cardiff, and their first tour of the UK.
Following the Philadelphia Orchestra’s stellar performance at last night’s Prom, Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit presented a second violinist with a bouquet of flowers. This unusual gesture, he explained, was a fond farewell to a man who has played in the orchestra for 50 years. During the past half-century, that violinist must have played last night’s pieces many times.
When recession strikes, Stravinsky’s your man! Nothing is wasted and everything is convertible. The fact that his world and style had changed beyond recognition between beginning his opera, Le Chant du Rossignol in 1908 and finishing it in 1914 – three epoch-changing ballets later – did not seem to faze him.
Concert de l’ONF en faveur du Sidaction sous la baguette de Kirill Karabits, remplaçant Semyon Bychkov. Un résultat à l’expressivité rare, aussi animé que savamment nuancé.
