Performer: Yutaka Sado

Effortless Brahms and rich Sibelius from Sado and the Tonkünstler-Orchester, with elegant Mozart from Yeol Eum Son at Cadogan Hall.  

This concert at Usher Hall delivered extraordinary playing, in repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Bernstein and Sibelius.

Yutaka Sado and the Tonkünstler excel in the epic passages of the Sibelius and the outer movements of the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto, less convincing in more lyrical moments. 

For the first of three concerts at the Cadogan Hall, the Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra gave a heavy account of Beethoven's Piano Concerto no. 4, lightened by the graceful playing of Angela Hewitt, followed by a rich New World Symphony.

Elena Barbalich's mis-en-scene for Le nozze di Figaro in Turin seemed a swirling game of Chinese boxes, but the vocal performances were full of vitality. 

It is not by chance that David Garrett plays the lead role in The Devil's Violinist, a 2013 film based on the life of Niccolò Paganini. With all the flamboyant looks of a rock star, he tackled Brahms' Violin Concerto in Naples.