Performer: Alisa Weilerstein

Husband and wife join together with the Ulster Orchestra in Ulster Hall, at the beginning of a year-long féile pairing the music of two twentieth-century giants of symphonic repertoire. 

A disparate set of pieces are connected to an intriguing theme in mostly successful performances, including Shostakovich from cellist Alisa Weilerstein.

Alisa Weilerstein delivered an amazingly raw performance of Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto, whereas Ilan Volkov and the CBSO’s renditions of Simon Holt and Brahms (reimagined by Schoenberg) proved alienating and overblown.

A rousing Dvořák Symphony no. 8 and that composer’s The Water Sprite filled out a highly satisfying performance.

Tomáš Netopil directs ideal, ‘non-dairy’ performances of Mozart and Dvořák.