Humanity wins: István Várdai plays Shostakovich at the Concertgebouw

By Eleanor Knight, 11 December 2023

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“Collon’s superpower as a conductor is a deceptive lightness of touch that belies technical precision”

Reviewed at Concertgebouw: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 9 December 2023

Lindberg, Serenades

Shostakovich, Cello Concerto no. 1 in E flat major, Op.107

Casals, El cant dels Ocells (Song of the Birds)

Sibelius, Symphony no. 3 in C major, Op.52

Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra

Nicholas Collon, Conductor

István Várdai, Cello

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

Mark Pullinger, 26th August

New Chief Conductor Nicholas Collon passes the Sibelius test with flying colours in a fine Fifth Symphony.

***11

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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Eleanor Knight

Eleanor is a writer and librettist. Her work has appeared in all kinds of places from the Royal Opera House to the foot tunnels beneath the Elephant and Castle roundabout, and she has written arts reviews and features for British papers and magazines. Having begun her working life in theatre, she switched to publishing and later taught creative writing at the University of Brighton and Birkbeck. Currently based in the Netherlands, she teaches at the University of Utrecht. Eleanor plays violin and sings, though not usually at the same time, and has recently taken up speed-skating.