What larks! Pekka Kuusisto and the Finnish RSO at the Proms

Pekka Kuusisto and the Finnish RSO

Nicholas Collon

Pekka Kuusisto greets the Prommers

By Mark Pullinger, 26 August 2022

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“twitchers in the Gallery may have struggled to identify this lark at all”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 26 August 2022

Debussy, La Mer

Vaughan Williams, The Lark Ascending

Adès, Märchentänze (UK premiere)

Sibelius, Humoresque no. 4 in G minor, Op.89 no.2

Sibelius, Symphony no. 5 in E flat major, Op.82

Sibelius, Valse triste, Op.44 no.1

Pekka Kuusisto, Violin

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Nicholas Collon, Conductor

Humanity wins: István Várdai plays Shostakovich at the Concertgebouw

Eleanor Knight, 9th December

Nicholas Collon conducts the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra in a ZaterdagMatinee programme designed to celebrate Finnish Independence Day.

****1

An online Beethovenathon: all nine symphonies across Europe in one day

Alexander Hall, 6th June

An all-day Beethoven experience European style with both highs and lows: much diversity revealed and exploited but of variable quality.

***11

OSRF, Lintu y Gabetta en el Auditorio: la pujanza del ritmo

Ramón del Buey Cañas, 15th March

El ritmo palpita y atraviesa Elephant Skin, de Jesús Rueda, el Concierto para violonchelo y orquesta núm. 1, de Martinů, y la Sinfonía núm. 5, de Tchaikovsky, conformando un crisol estimulante y variado, que aboca al intérprete a una atención y versatilidad extremas. Este era el reto que acometían Lintu y su Orquesta Sinfónica de la Radio Finlandesa, en colaboración con, sin duda, una de las mejores chelistas de los últimos tiempos: Sol Gabetta.

****1

Postminimalistische Erstaufführung

Simon Haasis, 10th January

Das Finnische Radio-Sinfonieorchester unter Hannu Lintu beginnt seine Tournee mit einer österreichischen Erstaufführung.

***11

Aurora dazzle in Edinburgh International Festival debut

Simon Thompson, 18th August

Aurora Orchestra turn Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony inside out to exhilarating effect in a dazzling performance in their Scottish debut. Abel Selaocoe’s Four Spirits, on the other hand, has surface shine but not much substance.

****1

Aurora Orchestra pulls off another dramatic performance from memory

Nick Boston, 17th August

Nicholas Collon and the Aurora Orchestra, together with Frantic Assembly, present an illuminating analysis of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony, followed by a blistering account of the work from memory.

****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.