Prom 51: Passion and Brazilian flair from Alsop and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra

By Mark Thomas, 25 August 2016

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“the Proms equivalent of a closing ceremony”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 24 August 2016

Nobre, Kabbalah, Op.96 (UK premiere)

Grieg, Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16

Villa-Lobos, Bachianas Brasileiras no. 4: Prelude

Rachmaninov, Symphonic Dances, Op.45

Villa-Lobos, Valsa da dor

Lobo, Suite Popular Brasileira (Pé de Vento)

Gabriela Montero, Piano

São Paulo Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop, Conductor

Epic Shostakovich 5 from Alsop and the São Paulo SO

David Smythe, 22nd August

Marin Alsop nods to her mentor in Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, challenges the Edinburgh Festival Chorus with Villa-Lobos' Chôros 10 and astonishes in a passionate enduring performance of Shostakovich's Fifth.

****1

Colours, dreams and seascapes in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 5th December

Celso Antunes and Bertrand Chamayou present the evocative music of Debussy, Scriabin and Takemitsu with the São Paulo State Orchestra.

****1

Volmer/ OSESP present Sibelius, Adams and Beethoven

Ivan Chiarelli, 15th August

In a program conceived by composer and conductor John Adams, Sibelius’ Lemminkäinen Suite, Adams’ own Absolute Jest and Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7 sounded in sympathetic resonance with Charles Ives’ Three Places in New England.

****1

Literary influences in music in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 8th August

Jaime Martín conducts Antoine Tamestit and the OSESP in a night of literary inspired music by Berlioz, Turina and De Falla.

***11

Tito Muñoz, Julian Bliss in São Paulo

Ivan Chiarelli, 6th June

Directed by guest conductor Tito Muñoz, the São Paulo State Orchestra (OSESP) performed a programme centered around the different conceptions of contrast, with music by Takemitsu, Beethoven and Nielsen.

***11

Brilliantly energetic Alsop and the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra in Manchester

Rohan Shotton, 27th October

On the final night of their mammoth European tour, the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra played a brilliantly energetic programme to a delighted Bridgewater Hall audience. There was a great deal to commend in the playing, despite some capricious tempo choices in Mahler’s first symphony.

****1

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Mark Thomas

A lifelong devotee of classical music, Mark caught the bug after listening to The Planets, The Rite of Spring and Beethoven’s Fifth when he was knee-high to a grasshopper. He has degrees in non-musical subjects and currently works as a Chartered Governance Professional, but these have proved to be mere distractions from the wonders of sonatas, concertos and symphonies. He has been reviewing for Bachtrack since 2016, plays viola and violin (very shakily) and used to sing a bit (even more shakily).