Alsop and Kaufmann lead the Last Night revelries

By Mark Pullinger, 13 September 2015

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“a menu of musical vol au vents”

Reviewed at Royal Albert Hall, London on 12 September 2015

Alberga, Arise, Athena! (BBC Commission: World première)

Shostakovich, Piano Concerto no. 2 in F major, Op.102

Pärt, Credo

Strauss R., Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche (Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks), Op.28

Puccini, Tosca: Recondita armonia

Puccini, Manon Lescaut: Donna non vidi mai

Puccini, Turandot: Nessun dorma

Johnson, Victory Stride

Copland, Old American Songs ('I bought me a cat')

Grieg, Peer Gynt Suite: Morning

Gershwin, Love walked in (arr. Grainger)

Gould, Etude in a form of Boogie Woogie

Delibes, Les filles des Cadix

Lehár, The Land of Smiles: Dein ist mein ganzes Herz

Rodgers, The Sound of Music: Selection (arr. C. Hazell)

Wood, Fantasia on British Sea-Songs – Jack’s the Lad (Hornpipe); Home, Sweet Home

Arne, Rule, Britannia! (arr. Sargent)

Elgar, Pomp and Circumstance March no. 1 in D Major, Op.39 ("Land of Hope and Glory")

Parry, Jerusalem (orch. Elgar)

Traditional, The British National Anthem (arr. Britten)

Traditional, Auld Lang Syne (arr. Thorpe Davie)

Benjamin Grosvenor, Piano

Danielle de Niese, Soprano

Jonas Kaufmann, Tenor

BBC Singers

BBC Symphony Chorus

BBC Symphony Orchestra

Marin Alsop, Conductor

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Wolfe's climate-change oratorio, performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra, already feels out of date.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

Prom 76: Alsop and Kaufmann lead the Last Night revelries