Work: Stabat Mater, FP 148

A concert of French music reveals – and suffers from – contrasting styles, attitudes and coherence in works by Ravel and Poulenc. 

Elizabeth Watts gives an unforgettably powerful performance of Finzi’s Dies Natalis in an otherwise problematic concert, marred by Adrian Partington’s uncertain approach.

A lush programme of Fauré, Stravinsky, and Poulenc is let down by Minkowski's erratic conducting, but is partially redeemed by two of France's fastest rising singers.