Two Sergeis with Vinnitskaya and Valčuha at the Elbphilharmonie

By Alexander Hall, 15 September 2023

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“Vinnitskaya... very much alive to the constant shifts in mood and texture”

Reviewed at Elbphilharmonie: Grand Hall, Hamburg on 14 September 2023

Rachmaninov, Piano Concerto no. 4 in G minor, Op.40

Shostakovich, Seven Doll's Dances for piano, Op.91b (Romance)

Prokofiev, Symphony no. 5 in B flat major, Op.100

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester

Anna Vinnitskaya, Piano

Juraj Valčuha, Conductor

Bychkov's uneven Mahler 8 at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 11th April

Doing justice to the vast scale of Mahler's "Symphony of a Thousand" is itself the mightiest of tasks. Semyon Bychkov and his NDR forces only partially succeed.

***11

A searingly powerful Duke Bluebeard's Castle at the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 9th February

Alan Gilbert and his NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester partner first Igor Levit, and then Michelle DeYoung and Gerald Finley, in a night of outstanding music-making devoted to the music of Bartók.

*****

Music that makes the flesh creep: Kochanovsky's powerful Prokofiev 6

Alexander Hall, 20th April

Three diverse works written within 15 years of each other, by Kodály, Poulenc and Prokofiev, given with panache by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the amazing Jussen brothers and Stanislav Kochanovsky.

****1

Operatic Wagner and symphonic Shostakovich in the Elbphilharmonie

Alexander Hall, 15th September

Conducting the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, the Latvian Andris Poga reveals a surer hand in Shostakovich's final symphonic statement than in the partnering of Nina Stemme in Wagner, where her big voice often missed the essential intimacy.

***11

Death and what comes after: Alan Gilbert's Mahler 2 in Hamburg

Alexander Hall, 2nd September

Opening the new season, Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester send out a clear message in Mahler's Second Symphony, both lyrically shaped and dramatically inflected.

****1

Impressions of Suffolk, Andalusia and the Rhineland in Hamburg

Alexander Hall, 12th May

Robert Louis Stevenson was clear in the advice he gave: “It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive.” Pablo Heras-Casado, Bertrand Chamayou and the house orchestra of the Elbphilharmonie embark on musical journeys, but with mixed results.

**111

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Alexander Hall

Alexander Hall divides his time between London and Hamburg, where he had a career in academic administration and teaching. He reviews for Bachtrack and Opera Today, and has also reviewed for Classical Source. A connoisseur of the great orchestras of the world, his musical memories stretch back to Karajan/Berlin Phil, Mravinsky/Leningrad Phil, Bernstein/Vienna Phil, and he has seen most of the great conductors from the past, including Böhm, Klemperer, Kubelik, Ormandy and Szell.