Birtwistle's Earth Dances: Gripping performance, but is it new music?

By Cynthia Wilson, 09 March 2014

Loading, please wait...

See full listing

Reviewed at National Concert Hall: Main Stage, Dublin on 7 March 2014

Birtwistle, Earth Dances

National Symphony Orchestra Ireland

Nicholas Cleobury, Conductor

Chopin and Franck reframed with elegance and insight in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 20th March

In Dublin, Jean-Luc Tingaud and Louis Lortie bring clarity and purpose to two composers often ill at ease with the orchestra.

****1

Paradise Deferred: Shelley takes on Schumann’s Paradies und die Peri

Andrew Larkin, 13th February

Alexander Shelley tackles Schumann’s sprawling Das Paradies und die Peri with conviction, shaping real momentum and drama, even if balance issues and Thomas Moore’s cloying libretto sometimes distract.

***11

Sułkowska-Migoń’s Dublin programme crowned by a white-hot Scheherazade

Andrew Larkin, 16th January

Works by Boulanger and Shostakovich pay off handsomely before Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, shaped with dynamic control and visceral energy, crowns a vividly played concert.

****1

Michelle Cann brings out the soul in Price’s Piano Concerto in Dublin

Michael Roddy, 12th December

Florence Price’s concerto brings the Dublin audience to its feet at the National Symphony Orchestra Ireland’s latest concert.

****1

Anja Bihlmaier conducts a powerful NSO programme in Dublin

Andrew Larkin, 5th December

Scintillating Mozart meets soul-searching Bruckner as Anja Bihlmaier and the NSOI deliver a programme of vivid contrasts and compelling musical storytelling.

****1

Anna Rakitina’s night with the National Symphony Orchestra

Andrew Larkin, 17th October

From an Anna Clyne Irish premiere to Tchaikovsky’s brilliance and Shostakovich’s grim wit, the NSO balances virtuosity with thoughtful nuance in Dublin.

****1

More reviews...

Cynthia Wilson

Boston-born, educated at Concord Academy and Sarah Lawrence College, Cynthia Wilson studied harpsichord in Amsterdam. She has performed, taught and held significant management positions: public radio, Philips Hall, Rotterdam Philharmonic. Wilson subsequently founded wwclassics: (arts) policy and (events) production. She recently published the biography of Menahem Pressler (Beaux Arts Trio).