Rhythmic precision: Foxy Stravinsky from Salonen

By Mark Pullinger, 27 May 2016

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“Salonen drove the complex rhythms convincingly, controlling the percussion assault”

Reviewed at Royal Festival Hall, London on 26 May 2016

Stravinsky, Renard

Stravinsky, Mavra

Stravinsky, Les Noces

Esa-Pekka Salonen, Conductor

Irina Brown, Director

Louis Price, Set Designer

Natalya Pavlova, Parasha

Evelina Agabalaeva, Mother

Artyom Melikhov, Vassily/'Mavra'

Olga Bobrovskaya, Neighbour

Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Piano

Tamara Stefanovich, Piano

Nenad Lečić, Piano

Lorenzo Soulès, Piano

Soloists from the Mariinsky Theatre

Philharmonia Orchestra

Quinny Sacks, Choreography

Alexander Trofimov, Tenor

Yaroslav Petryanik, Baritone

Andrei Serov, Bass

Margarita Ivanova, Soprano

Shahla Tarrant, Dancer

Sam Archer, Dancer

Christopher Akrill, Dancer

Adam Gilbraith, Dancer

Shostakovich’s Orango keeps the Red Flag flying

Mark Pullinger, 24th August

Fervent flag-waving is usually reserved for the Last Night of the Proms, so what was going on in this Philharmonia concert? The Arena was awash with a sea of red flags, the chorus – and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen – were decked out in T-shirts bearing portraits of Lenin or Stalin.

***11

Chillingly dark Ravel from the Philharmonia

Katy Wright, 12th February

The Philharmonia's City of Light season goes from strength to strength with an outstanding performance of Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and Dutilleux's Correspondances.

****1

European première of Shostakovich's Orango at The Rest is Noise

Renée Reitsma, 16th May

Among the brilliant programming of The Rest is Noise festival in London, there was one concert this year that stood above all the others for me: the European première of Shostakovich’s opera prologue Orango. First discovered in an archive in 2004 by scholar Olga Digonskaya, Orango was never finished by Shostakovich, and indeed only a piano score remained.

*****

Romeo Castellucci directs a new Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala

Laura Servidei, 26th April

The Italian director makes his long-awaited Italian operatic debut at the Teatro alla Scala in a production which perfectly mirrors Debussy’s most enigmatic creation.

****1

Chiaroscuro extinguished: a self-indulgent Poppea in Copenhagen

Mengguang Huang, 26th April

Christoph Marthaler’s staging of Monteverdi’s Poppea for the Royal Danish Opera is a study in boredom.

**111

Lepage’s Bluebeard and Erwartung pairing remains compelling theatre

John Gilks, 25th April

Some 30 years after its first appearance, Robert Lepage’s double bill of Duke Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung is still strikingly effective and very modern-looking music theatre.

*****

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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.

Rhythmic precision: Foxy Stravinsky from Salonen and the Philharmonia