Taking risks that pay off at the Enescu Festival

Giovanni Antonini conducts Il Giardino Armonico

Giocoso String Quartet

Luiza Borac

Anett Fritsch, Giovanni Antonini and Il Giardino Armonico

By Peter Quantrill, 15 September 2025

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“left the threads of its quizzical conclusion loose, in an authentically Shostakovichian enigma”

Reviewed at Romanian National Museum of Art: Auditorium Hall, Bucharest on 13 September 2025

Enescu, Piano Quartet no. 2 in D minor, Op.30

Ravel, String Quartet in F major

Shostakovich, Piano Quintet in G minor, Op.57

Giocoso String Quartet

Sebastian Câșleanu, Violin

Agata Policinska Malocco, Violin

Martha Casleanu-Windhagauer, Viola

Ariel Barnes, Cello

Luiza Borac, Piano

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Reviewed at Romanian Atheneum (Ateneul Român), Bucharest on 13 September 2025

Mozart, Idomeneo, re di Creta, K366: Overture

Mozart, Kyrie in D minor for chorus and orchestra, K341 (K368a)

Mozart, Missa in C major, "Coronation", K317

Beethoven, Symphony no. 3 in E flat major "Eroica", Op.55

Il Giardino Armonico

NFM Choir

Giovanni Antonini, Conductor

Anett Fritsch, Soprano

Justyna Rapacz Ołów, Mezzo-soprano

Dovlet Nurgeldiyev, Tenor

Volodymyr Andrushchak, Bass

Korngold and Mahler from Ray Chen, Vasily Petrenko and the RPO

Roy Westbrook, 12th May

Few violin concertos soar from the first bar as Erich Korngold’s does, especially as in Ray Chen's high-wire account at the Royal Albert Hall.

****1

Energetic Currentzis and Utopia at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 12th May

From Berg’s crystalline intimacy to Dionysian Mahler, Teodor Currentzis and Utopia defy orchestral tradition with standing musicians, spatial acoustics and an emotional intensity that breathes new life into the concert life.

****1

Redemption and musical caffeine: Nelsons conducts Mahler 8 in Vienna

Mark Pullinger, 10th May

Sunday morning Mahler at the Wiener Konzerthaus sees Andris Nelsons concluding his symphony cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic in shattering fashion.

****1

Era-defining string sound in the Liverpool Phil’s Mahler 9

Rohan Shotton, 10th May

Domingo Hindoyan nears his five-year anniversary at the RLPO with Mahler's Ninth Symphony.

****1

Alexander Malofeev conjures sophistication at the Concertgebouw

Clare Varney, 10th May

Sitting low on the piano stool and with his head gently bobbing from side to side, this is music to listen to on repeat.

****1

Billy Childs' Saxophone Concerto sings a song of America

Eleanor Knight, 8th May

Billy Childs Diaspora receives its UK premiere at the Barbican, performed by saxophonist Steven Banks.

****1

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Peter Quantrill

Peter Quantrill is a regular contributor to Gramophone, The Strad and other journals. Recent programme notes have been published by the Salzburg and Edinburgh festivals, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Royal Ballet. He also writes about music and musicians for many record labels including Eloquence, Delphian, Signum, Danacord and Brilliant Classics. Once unplugged from his hi-fi, he can generally be found in a London concert hall or at the cricket, and he tweets (sporadically) @PeterQuantrill.