Arabella Steinbacher delivers superb Beethoven with the DNSO in San Francisco

Fabio Luisi conducts the Danish National Symphony Orchestra in a programme that blends two modern works with Beethoven's Ninth.

“Denmark is not all Lego and pastries!” quipped Nikolaj Znaider to the Albert Hall audience. Indeed not. It is the land of Carl Nielsen, whose 150th birthday was celebrated in a packed Prom given by the Danish National Symphony Orchestra. 

Admittedly, it has been quite some time since I heard a St Matthew Passion in a concert hall as opposed to a church. The Concert Hall of the Danish Radio in Copenhagen is an impressive building both inside and out; it was well-filled and buzzing with excitement for a passion featuring the radio orchestra, choir as well as young and attractive international soloists.

The evening’s music commenced with Ligeti’s Night; Morning, one of the composer’s last works before his emigration to the West. Although only a very short piece, it exhibits some of the compositional approaches that are now synonymous with Ligeti’s style.

María Dueñas’ Tokyo performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto is less about display than about the living drama between held breath and release. 

As a leading exponent of Franz Schmidt's music, conductor Fabio Luisi leads the NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo in a rare performance of his Fourth Symphony for the orchestra's season opener.