Performer: Guy Braunstein

The pairing of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony with the Violin Concerto of Brahms felt conspicuously like a calling card from an orchestra that sees itself as a contender for wider recognition, on this showing with good reason.

“Let me play the lion too.” I hadn’t associated Daniel Barenboim with Nick Bottom from A Midsummer Night’s Dream before, but during Beethoven’s Triple Concerto, I half expected him to leap from his piano stool and play the violin and cello parts too. 

63 concerts in just four days: a full programme kicked off the “Bogotá is Mozart” festival in style. 

Just occasionally a regular concert-goer experiences a performance that is truly special.  When he is not anticipating this it can be an overwhelming experience. The BBC Philharmonic’s concert at the Bridgewater Hall, also broadcast on BBC Radio 3, proved to be such an experience.

The BBC Philharmonic delivered superb performances in a fascinating programme under their Principal Guest Conductor John Storgårds, finding an unusual mix of wit and pathos at the Bridgewater Hall. The concert opened with Sibelius’s 1914 The Bard, one of the less frequently heard of the Fin’s tone poems.

La potente trasmisión técnica y vital de Braunstein, Ottensamer y la OEX surcan plenamente a Brahms, Dvořák y Kodály.