Drama and poetry: the BBCSO and Sakari Oramo bring Varèse alive and kicking

Le Barbican Hall accueillait le BBC Symphony Orchestra et son chef Sakari Oramo pour un programme d'une remarquable cohérence, à de multiples niveaux, et dont la gradation dramatique a conquis l'assemblée.

Le BBC Symphony Orchestra donnait un programme Beethoven/Lutoslawski au Barbican Hall. Le chef Michal Nesterowic et le pianiste Steven Osborne ont remplacé les têtes d'affiche initialement annoncées. Un changement de distribution qui n’a pas empêché la soirée d'être réussie.

Yeol Eum Son’s Britten Piano Concerto formed the evening’s centre of gravity, played with lucid line, structural command and sudden fire. In Brahms’ Second Symphony, Sakari Oramo found conviction, proportion and a warmth that felt earned rather than applied.

Yeol Eum Son's superb performances of Bartók and Finzi are matched by intense and heady readings of Stravinsky and Weir by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo. 

A bewildering evening at the Barbican, where ambitious Icelandic programming collapses under its lofty ambition of defying genres and making music more appealing to a wide variety of audiences.

After a performance of Magnus Lindberg’s First Violin Concerto by Lisa Batiashvili at the Barbican, Stravinsky’s Perséphone stands the test of time.