Bruckner: the long and short of it

By Ken Ward, 01 March 2015

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Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 28 February 2015

Bach, Jesu, meine Freude - motet, BWV227

Bruckner, Locus Iste, gradual, WAB 23

Bruckner, Os justi meditabitur, motet, WAB 30

Bruckner, Christus factus est pro nobis, motet, WAB 11

Bruckner, Ave Maria in F major for mixed choir and Organ continuo, WAB 5

Bruckner, Symphony no. 8 in C minor, WAB 108

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Leif Segerstam, Conductor

James O'Donnell, Organ

BBC Singers

Sakari Oramo and Yeol Eum Son summon up vivid landscapes

Christopher Woodley, 13th March

Yeol Eum Son's superb performances of Bartók and Finzi are matched by intense and heady readings of Stravinsky and Weir by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo.

****1

From snow to sludge: Icelandic music at the Barbican Centre

Marat Ingeldeev, 22nd February

A bewildering evening at the Barbican, where ambitious Icelandic programming collapses under its lofty ambition of defying genres and making music more appealing to a wide variety of audiences.

**111

Fine Lindberg and Stravinsky double bill from the BBC Symphony

Roy Westbrook, 6th February

After a performance of Magnus Lindberg’s First Violin Concerto by Lisa Batiashvili at the Barbican, Stravinsky’s Perséphone stands the test of time.

****1

UK premiere of Julia Wolfe’s unEarth impresses on scale, not substance

Susannah Moody, 23rd January

Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.

**111

Sir James MacMillan delights with his Christmas Oratorio

David Karlin, 19th December

MacMillan's large scale choral work offers a rich variety of texts and musical ideas, the composer conducts the BBC Symphony with unerring precision.

*****

Ermonela Jaho gives a tragic twist to Puccini's La rondine

Peter Quantrill, 5th December

A new edition of Puccini's score springs to life in a meticulously prepared Opera Rara concert performance at the Barbican.

****1

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Ken Ward

Ken Ward spent most of his working life driving buses for Eastern National and London Buses. With a life-long enthusiasm for the works of Bruckner, he became editor of The Bruckner Journal in 2005 and was awarded The Bruckner Society of America 'Kilenyi' Medal of Honor in 2011.

Bruckner: BBCSO and Leif Segerstam give us the long and short of it