Performer: Martin Owen

Thea Musgrave given deserved attention by Guildhall musicians, BBC Singers and BBC Symphony orchestra in Total Immersion at the Barbican. 

St George’s Bristol is an extraordinary venue. Renowned for its unbeatable acoustic amongst performers and listeners alike, there is something unique about it that cannot be attributed to its sonic qualities alone.

After the overture, whose two movements, fast and slow, were adequately dispatched by a suitably small orchestra, the audience mistook the arrival of an orchestral horn player as that of the soloist himself, and burst into applause, which turned to laughter as the mistake became obvious.