The tongs and the bones: Vivid Mendelssohn

By Mark Pullinger, 17 February 2016

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“Resiny double basses skittered in Puck’s Scherzo”

Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 16 February 2016

Mendelssohn, Symphony no. 1 in C minor, Op.11

Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream: Overture, Op.21

Mendelssohn, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op.61 (Incidental Music) (Excerpts)

Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Conductor

Monteverdi Choir

London Symphony Orchestra

Jessica Cale, Soprano

Charlotte Ashley, Soprano

Sarah Denbee, Mezzo-soprano

Rebecca Hardwick, Soprano

Ceri-Lyn Cissone, Actor

Frankie Wakefield, Actor

Alexander Knox, Actor

A dream of a Gerontius from Pappano, the LSO and Chorus

Roy Westbrook, 21st April

Giving their 27th performance of the oratorio, the London Symphony Chorus excel as angelic angels and demonic demons.

****1

Pappano and the LSO: a thrilling collision between heaven and hell

Charlotte Gardner, 16th April

Vilde Frang joins Sir Antonio Pappano and the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican for transcendent Korngold alongside darker fare.

****1

Han Kang’s The White Book takes on a compelling new life

Peter Quantrill, 5th March

At the Barbican, Laura Bowler's new work for Barbara Hannigan translates Han Kang's novel into a soundscape of icy stillness

****1

A curious evening from Noseda, Kopatchinskaja and the LSO

Mark Valencia, 26th February

Good, bad, but never ugly, a curious evening unfolds at the Barbican, inspired at times, ill-judged in places.

***11

Borodin steps into the symphonic limelight: Noseda and the LSO

Mark Pullinger, 15th February

Seong-Jin Cho continues his Artist Portrait series with the LSO by performing Chopin's poetic Second Piano Concerto.

****1

Rattle and the LSO sell a travel package to Hungary and Spain

Roy Westbrook, 18th January

Opening her LSO Artist Portrait series, Patricia Kopatchinskaja plays Béla Bartók’s Second Violin Concerto before Rattle and the LSO whisk the audience to Falla’s Andalusia.

****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.

The tongs and the bones: Vivid Mendelssohn from Gardiner and the LSO