Russian sparkle from Vänskä and the Seoul Philharmonic

Sunwook Kim, Osmo Vänskä and the Seoul Philharmonic

Sunwook Kim

By Mark Thomas, 28 October 2022

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“but Vänskä in Lahti or Minnesota is not quite the same as Vänskä in Seoul”

Reviewed at Cadogan Hall, London on 27 October 2022

Tchaikovsky, Piano Concerto no. 1 in B flat minor, Op.23

Chin, Frontispiece

Stravinsky, The Firebird: Suite (1919)

Osmo Vänskä, Conductor

Sunwook Kim, Piano

Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic’s measured Mahler 6

SangKwon Lee, 19th March

That last movement proves the evening’s true point of reckoning in the Seoul Philharmonic's performance of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony at Lotte Concert Hall.

****1

Rhetoric over romance in Nikolai Lugansky's Chopin in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 12th February

Ludovic Morlot conducts the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra in three classics from the Romantic era: Berlioz, Chopin and Schumann.

***11

Jaap van Zweden tests Beethoven 9 in Seoul

SangKwon Lee, 18th December

At the Seoul Arts Center, Jaap van Zweden treats Beethoven’s disputed metronome marks less as provocation than instruction, trading bloom for voltage in a driven Beethoven Ninth Symphony.

**111

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic impress on US tour

Susan Stempleski, 27th October

In their first visit to the US in over a decade, the Seoul Philharmonic display their abundant skills in a crowd-pleasing program pairing two concert staples with an impressive American premiere.

****1

Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic prepare for their US tour

SangKwon Lee, 1st October

The Seoul Philharmonic preview their forthcoming US-tour programme, featuring Bomsori Kim playing Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

****1

Line, rhythm and spectrum: Jaap van Zweden and the Seoul Philharmonic

SangKwon Lee, 26th September

As a pre‑tour snapshot, this concert proves was unambiguous: an orchestra intent on renewing the canon in the language of now rather than sealing it behind glass.

****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).

Russian sparkle from Osmo Vänskä and the Seoul Philharmonic at Cadogan Hall