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

More gold than corn: María Dueñas plays Korngold at the Barbican

Mark Pullinger, 22nd May

The young Spanish violinist proves an ardent advocate for a work originally dismissed as a “Hollywood Concerto” as the BBC Symphony Orchestra closes its Barbican season.

****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

Sakari Oramo, Yeol Eum Son and the BBC Symphony in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 26th March

Yeol Eum Son’s Britten Piano Concerto formed the evening’s centre of gravity, played with lucid line, structural command and sudden fire. In Brahms’ Second Symphony, Sakari Oramo found conviction, proportion and a warmth that felt earned rather than applied.

****1

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

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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