BBCSO introduces Joseph Phibbs' Partita

By Jessica Marcus, 23 May 2016

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Reviewed at Barbican Hall, London on 21 May 2016

Phibbs, New Work (BBC co-commission,world premiere)

Bartók, Violin Concerto no. 2, Sz 112

Vaughan Williams, Dona nobis pacem

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Sakari Oramo, Conductor

Alina Ibragimova, Violin

Duncan Rock, Baritone

BBC Symphony Chorus

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Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.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

Jessica is currently studying a joint honours degree of Music and English Literature at the University of Leeds and has been training as a mezzo-soprano for 11 years. Her current research involves the editing and modernising of Baroque and Medieval scores and she is particularly partial to the Romantic composers, her favourite being Rachmaninov.

BBC Symphony Orchestra introduces Partita by ‘voice of our generation’ Joseph Phibbs