Stravinsky’s Perséphone brought to life by Adès and Barry

By Mark Thomas, 12 April 2018

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“Barry’s stark and uncompromising style gave the piece an edge-of-the-seat anxiety”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 11 April 2018

Adès, Powder Her Face: Suite

Barry, Organ Concerto

Stravinsky, Perséphone

Thomas Adès, Conductor

Thomas Trotter, Organ

Toby Spence, Tenor

Kristin Scott Thomas, Narrator

London Philharmonic Choir

Trinity Boys Choir

London Philharmonic Orchestra

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Mark Thomas

A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mark caught the bug after listening to The Planets, The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Fifth when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He has degrees in non-musical subjects and currently works as a Chartered Governance Professional, but these have proved to be mere distractions from the wonders of sonatas, concertos and symphonies. He has been reviewing for Bachtrack since 2016, plays viola and violin (very shakily) and used to sing a bit (even more shakily).