Taking flight from the Scala pit

By Mark Pullinger, 25 January 2018

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“pizzicato playing... from big fat popcorn double bass plucks to tiny violin pinpricks”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 24 January 2018

Rossini, La gazza ladra (The Thieving Magpie): Overture

Grieg, Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16

Grieg, Lyric Pieces: Erotik, Op.43 no.5

Tchaikovsky, Symphony no. 4 in F minor, Op.36

Verdi, Les Vêpres siciliennes (I vespri siciliani): Overture

Benjamin Grosvenor, Piano

Filarmonica della Scala

Riccardo Chailly, Conductor

Viotti brings Italianate sunshine to Russian repertoire in Milan

Mark Pullinger, 24th February

Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings and Rachmaninov's Second Symphony are given urgent, ardent readings by the Filarmonica della Scala.

****1

A high-energy season opener at Dvořák’s Prague

Frank Kuznik, 7th September

Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Filarmonica della Scalla boldly go into the Romantic repertoire, with mixed results.

****1

Grafenegg Festival ends with bittersweet Strauss from Renée Fleming

Laurence Vittes, 5th September

The soprano is lifted to lyrical heights by the Filarmonia della Scala and Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the open air Wolkenturm on the final night of the festival.

*****

Magnificent Beethoven tribute from Chailly in Antwerp

Marc Haegeman, 23rd January

"Beethoven 250" starts in grand form with thrilling performances of Egmont and Symphonies 5 and 8 in Antwerp.

*****

Lightweight Beethoven from Chailly and the Filarmonica della Scala

James Imam, 4th November

This lightweight, combustive account lacked bluster, sourcing tension from its forward momentum.

****1

Gardner and Levit invigorate the Filarmonica della Scala

James Imam, 11th March

Edward Gardner clearly has a thing for the Czechs. A month after he made his Royal Opera main-stage debut with Janáček's Katya Kabanova, here he was with the Filarmonica della Scala to conduct a strongly Czech programme.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Taking flight from the Scala pit: Riccardo Chailly and the Filarmonica della Scala on tour