Death is the star in a biting Kaiser von Atlantis at the Barbican

William Alwyn's operatic take on Strindberg is rarely performed – a complete mystery considering this excellent concert staging at the Barbican by the BBCSO under Sakari Oramo.

At the Barbican last night, Gerald Finley, John Adams and the BBC Symphony Orchestra combined to deliver the heaviest operatic punch I’ve been subjected to all year.

A youthful Bellini opera able to stand on its own two feet? Perhaps not, as Adelson e Salvini gets the Opera Rara treatment. 

“What Czech does not like music?” declares Beneš, the jailor in Smetana’s opera Dalibor. Certainly not Jiří Bělohlávek, who is as superb an advocate for Czech music as any conductor in the world right now.

Josep Pons strode purposefully onto the Barbican stage to conduct the BBC Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Haydn’s “Clock” Symphony. The first movement opened by way of an Adagio laden with a suitable sense of portent, the layers of writing for the strings being clearly articulated to bring this out.

Pour ce troisième volet du Ring proposé en version de concert par Yannick Nézet-Séguin et l'Orchestre philharmonique de Rotterdam, c'est le plateau vocal qui brille avant tout, éclipsant l'orchestre et le chef.