2006/07 Season > 2005/06 Season > 2004/05 Season > 2003/04 Season > 2003 Glyndebourne Festival Opera season > 2002/03 Season > 2001/02 Season > 2006/07 Season 3 October 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall, London LPO/Jurowski The programme for Vladimir Jurowski's latest concert with the London Philharmonic was a curious affair that framed Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with two 20th-century ballet scores, both effectively adaptations. Stravinsky's Pulcinella re-examines the 18th century through modernist eyes by ringing changes on music by Pergolesi. Rodion Shchedrin's Carmen turns extracts from Bizet's eponymous opera into a clattering extravaganza for strings and vast batteries of percussion. The two works are poles apart in quality, however. Pulcinella, with its subtle flashes of irony and tenderness, is almost a masterpiece. Placed by its side, Shchedrin's effort seems a crude exercise in camp. Both are a nightmare for conductor and orchestra. One false move in Pulcinella and the whole fragile edifice can crumble. However, Jurowski and the LPO achieved near perfection with it: the solo strings weaved filigree patterns over the rest of the players, the woodwind slithered through unctuous gavottes and the brass spun out graceful if portly minuets. Jurowski allowed himself to go completely over the top in Carmen. The LPO strings outdid Mantovani in lubricious slushiness, while the percussionists whirled between their instruments like participants in some dexterous musical Olympiad - a reminder that this is a work that can be more interesting to watch in performance than to hear. The soloist in the Tchaikovsky, meanwhile, was Leonidas Kavakos, one of the most self-effacing of performers, as well as one of the greatest. Technically, he was staggering, surmounting every challenge with a weighty brilliance. As always with Kavakos, however, showmanship is subordinate to expression. All the double and triple stopping in the finale had shape and meaning as well as virtuosic fire, while the long cantilenas of the opening movement and the central andante were operatic in their intensity. Jurowski and the LPO were at their electrifying best here, too. It was hard to imagine the work being better performed. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, Tuesday October 3, 2006 23 August 2006 - Royal Albert Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Turnage's A Relic of Memory and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto 2 Not that Vladimir Jurowski ever seemed to project anything other than total command, and in the Prokofiev that followed he was intensity personified. Every sharp accent of this piece seemed to fir into his grand plan, and the London Philharmonic responded with razor-sharp focus. Neil Fisher, The Times, 25 August 2006 23 August 2006 - Royal Albert Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Turnage's A Relic of Memory and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto 2 Soloist Nikolai Lugansky employed subtle colourings to shade fearsome piano writing…He and Jurowski defined precisely the concerto's extravagant variety in their wide-ranging tour of early modernism, also taking in remnants of the Russian late-Romantic school. George Hall, The guardian, 25 August 2006 23 August 2006 - Royal Albert Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Turnage's A Relic of Memory and Prokofiev's Piano Concerto 2 What really impressed was the sure grip exerted by Jurowski, both in these two opening pieces and Rakhmaninov's choral spectactular The Bells. Performances of this just-less-than-top-drawer Rakhmaninov do not come better than this. Richard Falman, Financial Times, 25 August 2006 Back to top > 2005/06 Season 3 May 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Louis Langrée conducts Ravel and Beethoven French pianist Claire-Marie le Guay's performance with Louis Langrée and the London Philharmonic was a darkly nostalgic affair that uncovered great emotional depths beneath the piece's glittering surface... Langrée conducted with edgy brilliance, and the LPO responded with playing of sleazy virtuosity. This was a great achievement, as was the performance of Ravel's Mother Goose Suite that preceded it. An immaculate judge of mood and colour when it comes to French music, Langrée opened up a beautiful if occasionally uneasy soundscape in which innocence teetered on the brink of experience and shafts of loneliness and sensuality could be heard in the silky strings and acerbic woodwind. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 8 May 2006 19 April 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Brahms and Schumann She drew warm and pungent playing in a rigorous account of Brahms's Symphony No. 4, and together with the soloist Melvyn Tan unlocked a great variety of texture in Schumann's Piano Concerto. John Allison, The Sunday Telegraph, 30 April 2006 19 April 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Brahms and Schumann Alsop was wonderfully alert to his every emotional shift, and the LPO's playing was exceptionally fluid in its beauty… She offered us a hugely impressive account of the Fourth Symphony, however, carefully highlighting its internal drama. The slow movement, in which grief and consolation are juxtaposed, was particularly fine, while the finale had a severe nobility and a genuine sense of tragic sublimity. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 25 April 2006 28 April 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Kurt Masur conducts Schumann The Second Symphony, very obviously written in Beethoven's shadow, found the orchestra galvanised … the violins made a good job of the virtuoso second movement, and the third, with Masur tracing big arcs of melody in his conducting, formed a sumptuous, emotional centre. Erica Jeal, The Guardian, 2 May 2006 28 April 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Kurt Masur conducts Schumann He is the picture of benevolent authority: his platform persona is gracious, his gestures are few but decisive … As is Masur's way, he made the lyrical passages intense, the dramatic opening and subsequent irruptions grandly telling. David Murray Financial Times, 3 May 2006 28 April 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Kurt Masur conducts Schumann In anniversary terms, Schumann has been the loser this year. Mozart and Shostakovich have won hands down. So, great praise for the London Philharmonic Orchestra for programming an entire concert of Schumann's work … Kurt Masur coaxed out the warmest of string sound in the brooding, slow, improvisatory opening of the overture to Schumann's only opera Genoveva, while the horns produced a strikingly open, almost raw sound ... In Schumann's 2nd Symphony, Masur captured Schumann's aping of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Never allowing the piece to sag, he observed the many sforzati, bows and fingers flying in the second and final movements, sheer balm delivered in the third. Annette Morreau, The Independent, 15 May 2006 18 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mozart and Shostakovich I will consider myself lucky if I hear another Mozart performance in this anniversary year as satisfying as the one Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra gave of the 'Jupiter' on Saturday. It wasn't just a question of rhythm, articulation or period inflexion, all of which were exemplary. It was the way the line of musical argument was so wonderfully sprung and sustained, without being chained to a beat. Rather than being limited by the move to the Queen Elizabeth Hall while the Festival Hall is renovated, the LPO gives every appearance of feeling liberated. Jurowski's concerts are turning into a festival in all but name, so inventive is the programme-building and so fresh the music-making. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 21 February 2006 16 February 2006 - Wigmore Hall and 18 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Robin O'Neill conducts a chamber group from the Orchestra in Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss and Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mozart and Shostakovich Those orchestras normally resident at the Royal Festival Hall are enduring their own Flying Dutchman-style peregrinations during the South Bank's renovations, but they are destined to wander only until next year, not eternity. Still, these are difficult circumstances, and it is good to see and hear the London Philharmonic - and its capacity audiences - adapting with such aplomb ... The concert opened and closed with the conductor Robin O'Neill drawing warm and fluid performances of Strauss's early Serenade in E flat and Suite in B flat ... Back in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the LPO's principal guest conductor, Vladimir Jurowski, created a buzz with his imaginative programming of Mozart and Shostakovich, two composers whose anniversaries are inspiring little imagination elsewhere. John Allison, The Sunday Telegraph, 26 February 2006 16 February 2006 - Wigmore Hall Robin O'Neill conducts a chamber group from the Orchestra in Mozart, Beethoven and Strauss The players drew on their experience of playing as a section to good effect, and Robin O'Neill conducted them in sleek, suave performances where phrases were ideally shaped and balance was nigh perfect. Matthew Rye, The Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2006 15 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich McBurney takes a few chronological liberties with the 20 resusciated numbers [of his reconstruction of Shostakovich's Hypothetically Murdered] but his aim was to make an effective concert suite. And as presented by a galvanised London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski, effective was certainly the right word - along with blistering, exuberant and manic. Richard Morrison, The Times, 17 February 2006 15 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich This whole piece, like its original subject matter, is pure satire, and was performed here - as was the Jazz Suite - with panache. Matthew Rye, The Daily Telegraph, 18 February 2006 15 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Shostakovich and Mozart What a wacky programme! I suspect we have the brilliant, young principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski, to thank for the most original programme so far in the anniversary games of Mozart and Shostakovich, where wit was the main theme ... the sheer brilliance of the playing - often at terrifying speeds - aping cabaret, circus and agitprop made the work an absolute delight. Annette Morreau, The Independent, 20 February 2006 12 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Paul Watkins conducts Stravinsky, Mozart and Dvorak The programme offered the players an opportunity to spread their wings and they responded with fresh, spry accounts of Stravinsky's Danses Concertantes and Pulcinella, a lyrical, easy-going delivery of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414, with Steven Osborne the fluent soloist, and a relative rarity, Dvorak's Serenade in D minor. Barry Millington, The Standard, 13 February 2006 12 February 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Paul Watkins conducts Stravinsky, Mozart and Dvorak Both the Dvorak and the Mozart were glorious, however. The Serenade was ebullient, intense and perfectly played … Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 15 February 2006-02-23 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky This was a brilliant, impassioned reading [of MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie], the LPO finding itself in fine form. Stephen Pettitt, Standard, 31 January 2006 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky Alsop always conducts with heart and soul, but Adès's darting rhythms and MacMillan's rage and lament found her especially aflame: by the end of the MacMillan she had tears in her eyes. Throughout the LPO responded with their best brightest playing; the house was full, young, and alive. Geoff Brown, The Times, 1 February 2006 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky The LPO played brilliantly for her and the choice of music - a new Mark-Anthony Turnage saxophone concerto, modern classics by Thomas Adès and James MacMillan, plus deceptively 'light' ballet scores by Satie and Stravinsky - played to her strengths. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 1 February 2006 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky Then, as if to prove the amazing variety of British new music, came Thomas Adès's Chamber Symphony, written when the composer was a mere 18. Alsop and the 15 players from the LPO - all cruelly exposed by this devilishly tricky score - made it sound as indecently brilliant as ever. Ivan Hewett, Daily Telegraph, 2 February 2006 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie remains a virtuoso piece for orchestra, and the LPO rose to the occasion. Annette Morreau, The Independent, 3 February 2006 30 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Marin Alsop conducts Satie, Adès, Turnage, MacMillan and Stravinsky A packed house of LPO loyalists was thus treated to handsome value for money in rarefied repertoire giving every department of this fine orchestra the chance to parade its skills under a modern master. Anthony Holden, The Observer, 5 February 2006 18 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Mark Elder conducts Richard Strauss It was a performance of wonderful ebb and flow, with skeins of string sound constantly changing their colour and texture. It wasn't a Karajan-style exercise in plush tone and romantic rhetoric, but something much more personal and introspective, which made Strauss seem an altogether more interesting, and ambiguous, 20th century composer. Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 20 January 2006 18 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Mark Elder conducts Stravinsky Then came the tightest of performances of Dumbarton Oaks, Stravinsky's 'wrong-note' Bach chamber concerto. What elegance, spice and freshness (particularly from the clarinet), showing that the spirit of Pulcinella was not forgotten. Annette Morreau, The Independent, 20 January 2006 18 January 2006 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Mark Elder conducts Stravinsky and Strauss The conductor, Mark Elder, drew alert performances in both, but it was the return to the heady German late romanticism of Strauss's Metamorphosen for 23 solo strings that brought out unexpected passion from him and the best playing of the evening. Placed in the spotlight, the musicians of the London Philharmonic Orchestra have nothing to be afraid of during their stint away from the certainty of the usual run of Bruckner and Mahler symphonies. Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 20 January 2006 10 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Pärt The audience's intense concentration was also testament to the refined intricacy of the solo parts as propounded by Boris Garlitsky and Pieter Schoeman, and to the overall sense of control exerted by Jurowski, who combined certainty of direction with local flexibility. George Hall, The Guardian, 15 December 2005 10 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Mozart, Stravinsky and Pärt Mozart's formal Masonic Funeral Music, Stravinsky's cerebral Symphonies of Wind Instruments (which was conceived as an elegy for Debussy) and Pärt's Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten, all spotlighting clean playing in the LPO wind section. Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 13 December 2005 2 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Haydn, Shostakovich and Bartók If he keeps the LPO playing like this, he'll do the OAE out of its Glyndebourne job. Robert Maycock, Independent, 6 December 2005 2 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Simon Trpceski and Paul Beniston play the Shostakovich Concerto for Piano and Trumpet Paul Beniston endured his trumpet's deconstruction with deadpan good grace, let it sing with uncanny finesse, and more than met Trpceski's challenge to an extra turn of speed at the end. Robert Maycock, Independent, 6 December 2005 2 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Haydn, Shostakovich and Bartók The conductor Vladimir Jurowski, who also led grippingly lucid performances of Haydn's Symphony No. 60 and Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta, found Shostakovich's darker orchestral colours as well as the vibrant ones in music that seemed to suggest a composer both virile and vulnerable. Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph, 6 December 2005 2 December 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Haydn, Shostakovich and Bartók It is increasingly obvious that the most creative force in London's orchestral life is Vladimir Jurowski ... every concert generates a sense of discovery, courtesy of Jurowski's deep musical sensibility and dry charisma. These qualities were precisely profiled in the LPO's latest concert ... The strings' subtly controlled diminuendos in the opening allegro [of Haydn's Symphony 60] made you feel the orchestra was enjoying itself as much as the audience; and the finale's musical joke seemed spontaneous, whether or not you expected it. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 8 December 2005 9 November 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Thomas Zehetmair conducts and plays Mozart Zehetmair was faultlessly stylish and sprightly with it. So were the London Philharmonic players, who looked and sounded as if they were enjoying the performance as much as he was ... David Murray, Financial Times, 16 November 2005 26 October 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Vassily Sinaisky conducts, Glinka, Dvorak and Tchaikovsky With smart, direct playing from the trumpets, a suave sound from the trombones and horns, and some exceptionally tight and cultured work from the LPO's excellent strings, this was a very impressive performance; beautifully shaped and galvanised by Sinaisky. AP, Independent on Sunday, 30 October 2005 21 September 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Ion Marin conducts Mozart Marin's Mozart is certainly not frivolous. Throughout there was lovely interplay among the wind instruments, and Marin controlled the build-up to the sudden ending with impeccable timing. Nick Kimberley, Standard, 22 September 2005 21 September 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Ion Marin conducts Mozart and Richard Strauss Encouraged by Ion Marin, the late replacement as conductor for Ingo Metzmacher, the LPO developed a chamber-like intimacy that has almost disappeared from mainstream concerts ... The suite from Strauss's Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme ... was nearly as enjoyable for the musicians' relish of its colourful, ever-changing combinations of solo instruments. Marin, with impeccable timing and infectious rhythm, encouraged finesse and just the right amount of swagger. Robert Maycock, The Independent, 23 September 2005 21 September 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Ion Marin conducts Stravinsky and Richard Strauss With the Festival Hall out of use for its overhaul, the South Bank's resident orchestras, the Philharmonia and the London Philharmonic, have had to decamp to the adjacent Queen Elizabeth Hall for the season. While this markedly smaller venue - which has had a bit of a facelift of its own over the summer - does impose restrictions on what can be done there, the LPO has seen it less as a challenge than as an opportunity, a chance to explore a range of music for smaller orchestra it feels it cannot comfortably tackle in the 3,000-seater RFH. And, if this opening concert of its season is anything to go by, we're in for one treat of a year. The evening had begun with Stravinsky's Concerto in D for strings in a performance that bounded along with energy, the outer movements vivacious in their sprung rhythms and neatly turned Baroquisms. The central 'Arioso' was suavely contoured, its strange octave-breaching melody on violins and cellos luminescent in the LPO players' hands. Best of all, though, was the performance of Strauss's Le bourgeois gentilhomme Suite. This is a score in which everyone is a soloist and it proved a magnificent showcase for the LPO's virtuosity and character. It's rare to see orchestral musicians so evidently enjoying what they're playing, and here they were relishing every turn, every joke, every explosion of Straussian opulence. Matthew Rye, The Daily Telegraph, 23 September 2005 21 September 2005 - Queen Elizabeth Hall Ion Marin conducts Mozart The LPO woodwinds decorated cleanly, efficiently, and with character: I'd hire them any day. Geoff Brown, The Times, 26 September 2005 22 September 2005 - Brighton Dome Ion Marin conducts Stravinsky and Richard Strauss In Stravinsky's Concerto in D for Strings and Strauss's Suite from Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme - relished by the LPO's wonderful woodwind soloists - we got a taster of things to come. Their forthcoming programmes are mouthwatering menus for musical gourmets. Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 2 October 2005 Back to top > 2004/05 Season 27 May 2005 Andrew Clements writes in The Guardian The London Philharmonic regularly spends its summers in the pit at Glyndebourne, but the orchestra took the opportunity of one of its evenings off for a last hurrah at the Royal Festival Hall before the auditorium that it has known for more than half a century disappears for ever. It was a hugely impressive farewell. The LPO's playing for Vladimir Jurowski was the chief virtue of the new production of La Cenerentola down at Glyndebourne last week, and this concert confirmed the rapport in their partnership. On this kind of form the orchestra is as good as any in the country, wonderfully detailed and refined, with supple, subtle ensemble - there were barely any notes out of place all evening - and perfectly graded textures and colours. Article continues > 16 February 2005 Royal Festival Hall Paavo Berglund conducts Sibelius' Symphony 2 In fact, this was an interpretation of searing excitement and, in the final movement, overpowering force. Yet for all the intensity of the big tune in the finale, in which Berglund revelled in the full power of the LPO's brass section, the slow second movement was the heart of this performance. Tom Service, The Guardian, 18 February 2005 5 March 2005 Royal Festival Hall Ingo Metzmacher conducts Hartmann's Symphony 3 The LPO performed magnificently, pitching into the amazing kaleidoscope of colours and moods as though they ate Hartmann for breakfast. A funeral march from the orchestra's catacombs; a few bars of gamelan patterning; a frenzied trumpet, revisiting Weimar; strings tied in contrapuntal knots: the LPO delivered with outstanding polish and attack. Geoff Brown, The Times, 8 March 2005 9 March 2005 Royal Festival Hall Mark Elder conducts Mahler's Symphony 6 Mahler's Sixth Symphony, that forbidding exploration of a psyche facing death, has become if not an everyday experience then certainly one that's not rare. It takes a remarkable performance to restore the impact the piece once had when it was rarer; fresher to us. Last night, Mark Elder and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, in magnificent form, offered just such a performance ... It was all brilliantly, chillingly executed. Stephen Pettitt, The Standard, 10 March 2005 9 March 2005 Royal Festival Hall Mark Elder conducts Mahler's Symphony 6 The LPO was on lethally good form. Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 14 March 2005 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony Vladimir Jurowski is the hottest conductor this side of the number 52. Feted as the new Barenboim, twirling his baton in front of the LPO Orchestra on a journey through the wilds of Rachmaninov. Running backstage afterwards with my programme flapping, I pushed my way through all the Japanese girls with their long socks. With his wild wiry black hair and burning eyes, Vladimir looked like a Russian Mr Darcy. Spellbound by his looks and talent, I ranted on about his music soothing my inner soul and relaxing me beyond belief - until his agent politely nudged me on. Xanadu, Times Online, 13 December 2004 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony Exceptional dynamic control married with exactly the right sense of foreboding distinguished this Isle, right up to its climactic battle between the forces of life and death ... Sculpted by Jurowski the melodramatic story of Manfred took on a frenzied momentum ... He conducts the same trio of composers of Sunday: don’t miss him. Neil Fisher, The Times, 10 December 2004 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony Jurowski clearly has a special relationship with the LPO and you hear It in their acutely responsive playing. His conducting is as inspiring to see as it clearly is to play for. Peter Ree, The Daily Telegraph 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony It's a paradox, but Vladimir Jurowski made Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead a place of irresistible allure ... That's Jurowski's skill; his performances are so intensely well-heard, so concentrated, that they demand your involvement ... Midway through Rachmaninov's symphonic poem, a melody high in the first violins clears the texture, lightens the senses, illuminates the way ahead. Jurowski made it a truly transforming moment ... Jurowski dug deep with these dark colorations, his strings weighing in heavily with the hero's main theme, his horns - bells raised - braying it defiantly in the coda. The whole reading had a distinctly Russian sensibility, in phrasing and articulation, too. The finale's bacchanal had everyone's blood pumping. Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 14 December 2004 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony Rachmaninov's depiction of a forbidding sea in his symphonic poem The Isle of the Dead was brilliantly conjured by Jurowski and the LPO players ... Jurowski made the piece glow with soft colours. In Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony, another masterpiece of Russian musical tragedy, Jurowski controlled the music's dazzling drama with total assurance. Tom Service, The Guardian, 10 December 2004 8 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead and Tchaikovsky's Manfred Symphony It's a paradox, but Vladimir Jurowski made Rachmaninov's The Isle of the Dead a place of irresistible allure ... That's Jurowski's skill; his performances are so intensely well-heard, so concentrated, that they demand your involvement ... Midway through Rachmaninov's symphonic poem, a melody high in the first violins clears the texture, lightens the senses, illuminates the way ahead. Jurowski made it a truly transforming moment ... Jurowski dug deep with these dark colorations, his strings weighing in heavily with the hero's main theme, his horns - bells raised - braying it defiantly in the coda. The whole reading had a distinctly Russian sensibility, in phrasing and articulation, too. The finale's bacchanal had everyone's blood pumping. Edward Seckerson, The Independent, 14 December 2004 8 & 12 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Turnage, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky If posterity smiles on Mark-Anthony Turnage, it should be because of When I Woke and Evening Songs. As showcased in the London Philharmonic Orchestra's latest concerts under Vladimir Jurowski, both works came across as the most beautiful he has written, unfettered by debts to jazz and Britten ... Thanks to Jurowski's technical command, the LPO played with clarity and sophistication: this really is a marriage made in heaven. Their Rakhmaninov Isle of the Dead was mesmerising, their Tchaikovsky (Manfred Symphony on Wednesday, the Suite No 3 on Sunday) monumentally impressive. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 14 December 2004 12 December 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jurowski conducts Turnage, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky Finely conducted by Jurowski and exquisitely played ... This was a laid-back performance, free from overt sentimentality, and not so much a battle between pianist and orchestra as a unified display of jazzy wit, with Jurowski uncovering all sorts of orchestral details you haven’t noticed before ... The final Polonaise was second to none in its dash and glitter. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 15 December 2004 2 October 2004 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Dvorak's New World Symphony "Under Masur's insightful, unfussy direction, they gave a visionary performance of Dvorák's New World Symphony. The slow movement unfolded with a sense of vast space and stillness, and the famous cor anglais tune sounded, for once, like an evocation of the wide-open vistas of the American wilderness instead of an accompaniment to an infamous Hovis advert. Masur was equally convincing in the earthy energy of the outer movements. The first movement had an inexorable momentum, but the finale was even more impressive. Masur whipped the players into an unstoppable frenzy, creating a wild musical excitement and making a compelling case for the individuality of Dvorák's symphonic structure." Tom Service, The Guardian, 6 October 2004 Back to top > 2003/04 Season 1, 4 and 8 October 2003 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Brahms’ Symphonies and Piano Concertos "The Orchestra was playing really well, with firm discipline, passion and full-bodied sonority. Kurt Masur's affinity with the music was manifested here through lucid definition of texture, artful manipulation of rhythm and precise identification of orchestral colouring and balance." Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph "The LPO were on excellent form here, and the playing was wonderfully sensuous and beautifully honed" Tim Ashley, The Guardian "These readings were excellent. Each was given with a luxuriant, carefully blended sound, with a real feeling for overall shape, and with a sense of absolute technical security rarely encountered in London's over-hastily prepared concerts" Stephen Pettitt, London Evening Standard 29 October 2003 Royal Festival Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Rimsky-Korsakov, Stravinsky and Rachmaninov "this splendid London Philharmonic concert" "The LPO's playing was exemplary throughout, sumptuous and pithy by turns" The Independent "Vladimir Jurowski is a potent weapon in the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s armoury, a principal guest conductor with an acute analytical mind and an ability to create interpretations of strikingly sharp focus and character" "the performance of Rachmaninov's Symphonic Dances was quite simply superb" Daily Telegraph "The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski are a winning combination" "as the music hurtled towards a final annihilating gong clash, it was impossible not to feel that Jurowski and the orchestra are good for each other" The Guardian "that Jurowski could pull a crowd with no obvious crowd-puller suggests London's concert-goers have begun to trust him. They were not disappointed" Financial Times 5 November 2003 Royal Festival Hall Louis Langrée conducts Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique When it's played with the ferocious intensity of Louis Langrée's performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique sounds like one of the most modern pieces in the repertoire. Langrée and the LPO thrillingly realised Berlioz's orchestral effects, like the deathly rattles of the string instruments in the final movement, or the vivid premonition of the hero's fate at the end of the slow movement, as a lovely cor anglais line was suspended over the rumbles of four timpani. Tom Service, The Guardian, 8 November 2003 6 December 2003 Royal Festival Hall Paavo Berglund conducts Beethoven's Piano Concerto 4 with John Lill Lill and Berglund had clearly reached an understanding so mutual that in a thrilling account of Beethoven's Fourth Concerto there was less visual communication between soloist and conductor than I have ever seen ... The ensuing joyride found both pianist and orchestra, the LPO, at their consummate best, settling into a profound dialogue in the slow movements after a spirited conversation in the first, elegantly resolving their differences in the rondo. Anthony Holden, The Observer, 14 December 2003 24 January 2004 Royal Festival Hall Ingo Metzmacher conducts Shostakovich With a beat that is unfussy yet expressive, he paced the massive first movement superbly. The tension grew inexorably, the central explosion was ferocious and draining, the ebbing away of emotion admirably controlled ... The long cor anglais solo was wonderfully phrased. The first trumpet blazed through his vital passages. Richard Morrison, The Times, 26 January 2004 24 January 2004 Royal Festival Hall Ingo Metzmacher conducts Adès, Mahler and Shostakovich These were performances of tremendous force and insight, played with a combination of perfect clarity and visceral emotion. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 27 January 2004 31 January 2004 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Shostakovich's Symphony 1 Far from casting a senior statesman's cool eye on a young composer's fiercely clever score, Masur drove through it with all the strident fervour it demands, while still giving the LPO's excellent solo winds the space to relish the many acutely expressive moments. A bit of a tour de force, then, with the stamp of sizzling authority. David Murray, Financial Times, 3 February 2004 3 February 2004 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Shostakovich's Symphony 5 After the interval came a tremendous performance of Shostakovich's Fifth Symphony. Masur has an almost instinctive understanding of the work's tensions and ambiguities and his interpretation surveyed the nostalgic reminiscences of Mahler, Tchaikovsky, Russian church music and even Debussy, before subsuming them into Shostakovich's unique symphonic voice. The marches had crushing weight, while the ending swerved from elation towards otiose, ritual pomp. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 5 February 2004 3 February 2004 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Shostakovich's Symphony 5 Masur unpeeled the Janus-mask of this mighty work by stressing the hinges in its music, between tempi and moods; even between sections of the orchestra. So that all its conflicting colours of hope, dread, endurance, burlesque, yearning and final affirmation were painted in clear, sharp relief to one another. Ed Vulliamy, The Observer, 8 February 2004 "The Orchestra was playing really well, with firm discipline, passion and full-bodied sonority. Kurt Masur's affinity with the music was manifested here through lucid definition of texture, artful manipulation of rhythm and precise identification of orchestral colouring and balance." Geoffrey Norris, Daily Telegraph "The LPO were on excellent form here, and the playing was wonderfully sensuous and beautifully honed" Tim Ashley, The Guardian "These readings were excellent. Each was given with a luxuriant, carefully blended sound, with a real feeling for overall shape, and with a sense of absolute technical security rarely encountered in London's over-hastily prepared concerts" Stephen Pettitt, London Evening Standard 3 March 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Stravinsky's The Firebird "Saraste gave the orchestra a thorough workout in Stravinsky's The Firebird. The LPO's woodwind players, flute and clarinet in particular, were in fine form, their brief solos filled with pungent character." Nick Kimberley, The Standard, 4 March 2004 3 March 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Stravinsky's The Firebird "The full score of Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird can be too much of a good thing in the concert hall, but Saraste's precision brought dividends. He kept the heavy brass under his thumb and concentrated on detail, the woodwind flickering like fireflies. The performance also went at a pace that would have kept the dancers on their toes - a Firebird with poetry and flair." Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, 5 March 2004 3 March 2004 Royal Festival Hall Jukka-Pekka Saraste conducts Stravinsky's The Firebird "Saraste was equally precise in this account of Stravinsky's ballet. He got the orchestra to relish both the delicacy and the dazzling colours of this score, and everyone rose to the occasion in the final exultant blaze of glory." John Allison, The Times, 8 March 2004 Back to top > 2003 Glyndebourne Festival Opera season The London Philharmonic Orchestra opened the 2003 Glyndebourne Festival Opera season with the first ever performance there of a Wagner opera - Tristan and Isolde. The first performance garnered a rave review from the press:- "For the London Philharmonic one can have nothing but praise. The diaphanous colours of the "holy twilight", the tensile pianissimi, the heaving rosiny depths of the prelude to Act III. Fabulous." The Independent "The evening was a revelation" "The London Philharmonic sounded ravishing and startlingly transparent. Each chord was audible in all its parts, every solo heard as chamber music. Belohlavek shaped the preludes to each act - from hushed promise to melting sensuality to sour, threatening despair - with the elegance and precision of a gem cutter" Evening Standard "astonishing exposure of the score's depths, with every shift in texture painstakingly laid bare by the London Philharmonic" The Guardian "Jiri Belohlavek conducts an unshowy, unyhsterical reading of the score, beautifully played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra" Daily Telegraph The second production of the season was Puccini’s La Bohème: "This staging...is long on...moments when the orchestra and singers coincide in mood and gesture to an extraordinary degree." "Everything is underpinned by Mark Wigglesworth's beautifully controlled, ideally romantic conducting of the score" The Times "The London Philharmonic Orchestra rewards him (Mark Wigglesworth) with some glorious sounds" Financial Times In his second opera of the season Mark Wigglesworth then conducted Graham Vick’s production of Le Nozze de Figaro. "persuasively conducted by Mark Wigglesworth, for whom the London Philharmonic Orchestra play with their customary polish" Sunday Express "Mark Wigglesworth has the LPO sizzling through Mozart's score with exhilarating energy and dynamism" The Observer "the London Philharmonic Orchestra - particularly the woodwinds – plays excellently" London Evening Standard Back to top > 2002/03 Season 25 September 2002 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Bruckner's Symphony 7 With no score, no baton, and his tall body positively bristling with nervous energy, Masur kindled his players to little less than a conflagration of the mighty work before the evening was out. In the golden climax points of the outer movements where, first, noble horns and then Wagner tubas sign and seal the energies amassed from motif and theme, one could almost physically feel the strength and rigour emanating from Masur himself, to inspire and galvanise his players. Hilary Finch, The Times, 27 September 2002 29 September 2002 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Prokofiev, Walton and Strauss The execution of this concert was impeccable ... this was a blistering, perfectly paced account [of Prokofiev's Symphony 5], built to a grinding climax in the first movement and remorselessly whipped up to a frenzy in the scherzo. The rangy lyrical lines that are laced through the whole work had a tensile strength, and Masur kept deceptively tight control of the details. Everything had lost none of its zip or precision by the end of the programme, and Strauss's portrait [of Till Eulenspiegel] glittered and teased with deadpan wit. Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 1 October 2002 5 October 2002 Kennedy Center, Washington Kurt Masur conducts Beethoven and Bruckner ... this was the finest performance I've ever heard from him, and one of the most involving orchestra concerts to hit Washington in quite some time ... the London Philharmonic sounded every bit the equal of the New York Philharmonic in its power and virtuosity. Tim Page, The Washington Post, 7 October 2002 6 October 2002 Symphony Hall, Boston Kurt Masur conducts Beethoven and Bruckner Bruckner had his head in the clouds, his feet on the ground, and very few conductors understand both, or can keep them in some kind of balance. Masur can, and the London Philharmonic is perhaps the best orchestra in Britain for this kind of music because so many of its conductors have come from this tradition. The orchestra sounded splendid over a wide range of dynamics, from the quiet rustle of strings at the beginning to all of those Wagner tubas arriving in full cry. The central Adagio had a wonderful, easy, conversational quality; it didn’t struggle to be sublime, but took sublimity for granted. Masur omitted the controversial cymbal crash at the apex of this movement; he didn’t need it because the climax had come so inevitably, and with such a sense of destiny and arrival. Richard Dyer, Boston Globe, 7 October 2002 7 October 2002 Carnegie Hall, New York Kurt Masur conducts Prokofiev, Walton and Strauss The London Philharmonic creates the kind of full, well-tuned blocks of sounds that follow Bruckner's slow-moving contours handsomely. This is also an orchestra that cares; one hears it in every measure ... The London Philharmonic's traditions of survival and adaptability are lessons for apathetic and often better-heeled orchestra players around the world. The Bruckner was wonderful, deeply moving, and the Prokofiev finale irresistibly wild. Bernard Holland, New York Times, 10 October 2002 26 October 2002 Royal Festival Hall Itzhak Perlman conducts Bizet’s Symphony in C The genial high spirits of Bizet's Symphony in C suited his temperament, and the LPO gave a fizzing performance, with razor-sharp playing from the principal winds. Ivan Hewett, The Daily Telegraph, 28 October 2002 2 November 2002 Royal Festival Hall David Parry conducts Meyerbeer's Margherita d'Anjou With some sumptuous casting and the London Philharmonic on rip-roaring form this was really an irresistible concert. Robert Thicknesse, The Times, 4 November 2002 2 November 2002 Royal Festival Hall David Parry conducts Meyerbeer's Margherita d’Anjou David Parry's conducting is immaculate and the London Philharmonic is on blistering form. Tim Ashley, The Gaurdian, 4 November 2002 27 November 2002 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Janácek's Taras Bulba The real highlight, though, was a spine-tingling performance of Janácek's Taras Bulba, played with iron control and virtuosity by the entire orchestra. It made one wonder whether anyone has ever thought to ask Masur to conduct this composer in the opera house. If they haven't, they jolly well should. Martin Kettle, The Guardian, 29 November 2002 30 November 2002 Royal Festival Hall Kurt Masur conducts Weber's Overture, Oberon and Mahler's Symphony 1 The LPO was soon playing with brio and brilliance. The big tune was delivered with loving warmth, and the orchestra attacked everything else with punch, making for a strong body of sound ... Masur caught all the dewy freshness in a radiant first movement. He unfolded this nature-inspired music in masterly fashion, and delivered the eventual explosion in brilliant colour. John Allison, The Times, 3 December 2002 22 January 2003 Royal Festival Hall Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Kodaly, Tchaikovsky and Dvorák The London Philharmonic proved to be in fine form ... the playing was polished and the orchestra's relish for its task apparent. Richard Morrison, The Times, 24 January 2003 22 January 2003 Royal Festival Hall Sir Charles Mackerras conducts Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto 1 Mackerras pulled out all the stops to obtain red-blooded playing from the LPO. It served as a much-needed reminder that this is one of the greatest concertos ever written, as well as one of the most popular. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 25 January 2003 19 February 2003 Royal Festival Hall Valery Gergiev conducts Prokofiev's Symphony 3 It was nevertheless, an intensely dramatic reading - spookily atmospheric in the scherzo's silken, swirling part-writing, and hell-bent in the blowsy finale, which Gergiev drove like a march to the scaffold. The London Philharmonic brooded and blazed as if this difficult music were second nature, while rewarding Gergiev with that extra degree of artistry it offers no other conductor. I've only heard this symphony a couple of times previously in the concert hall, also conducted by Russians, but neither was anything like as ravishingly played or tautly argued as this. Andrew Clark, The Financial Times, 21 February 2003 19 February 2003 Royal Festival Hall Valery Gergiev conducts Prokofiev’s Symphony 3 and Stravinsky's Firebird Gergiev leered over a superbly intense LPO, ripping out every breath of life in them. The giant tread of the first movement [of Prokofiev's Symphony 3] made you gulp; the swirling, scratching strings of the third movement were like a plague of terrifying insects; the hysterical climax ended with such a thump you could have just jumped off a cliff ... The finale, Stravinsky's Firebird ballet, turned the increasingly angry LPO into a monster. Gergiev tightened his grip on the dynamics, began embodying the music - fingers fluttering like the Firebird's wings - and teased out the increasingly hysterical sounds building from every side: goose-pimpled shivers in the violins; impish flights through the wind; dense walls of brass. Then they all ganged up on him and attacked, and you should have heard the sound of that lion turning on its tamer. And you ask why audiences love Gergiev? Matthew Connolly, The Times, 22 February 2003 23 February 2003 Royal Festival Hall Ingo Metzmacher conducts Shostakovich’s Symphony 4 A performance of Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony that was second to none .. The LPO's playing was at once detailed and furious, with every note and nuance hair-raisingly in place ... the Shostakovich was the greatest performance of the work I've heard in recent years. Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 25 February 2003 23 February 2003 Royal Festival Hall Ingo Metzmacher conducts Wagner, Beethoven and Shostakovich The London Philharmonic is on such good form that the telephone directory to music would have worked here, but with a Wagner overture, a Beethoven piano concerto and a Shostakovich symphony they were simply world-class ... From the tiniest detail of a single, stark pluck of the harp up to a climax so terrible as to raise the hairs on the violin bows, this was an LPO performance of violent brilliance. Matthew Connolly, The Times, 28 February 2003 12 June 2003 Royal Festival Hall Vladimir Jurowski conducts Anderson, Mozart and Prokofiev "His conducting is electrifying, no question, unleashing pulverising barrages of sound and taking you on a rollercoaster ride" The Guardian "Jurowski's brilliant technique showed again in the precision with which he handled all the detail" The Times "Jurowski's skill ensured an orchestral contribution both deft and positive" London Evening Standard Back to top > 2001/02 Season 02 September 2002 Elijah Mendelssohn, The Proms, The Royal Albert Hall 'Kurt Masur was conductor of the Leipzig orchestra for 26 years and has this music in his blood. He wrung a beautifully soft-grained, warm, big, embracing sound out of the London Philharmonic.' The Times 03/09/02 'Maybe this is what gave the performance such compelling insights. There were massed forces in the shape of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, the Philharmonia Chorus, Trinity Boys' Choir and a team of soloists led by Alastair Miles as the prophet himself. But Masur managed them so that, while the big choruses were powerful, they did not stem the dramatic flow. There was an urgent continuity and pulse, coupled with delicate touches that gave the music a fresh, exhilarating timbre.' The Daily Telegraph 03/09/02 28th April 2002 A Celebration of Kurt Masur's 75th Birthday KURT MASUR conductor ANNE-SOPHIE MUTTER violin '...a grand concert to commemorate his 75th birthday, complete with a glitterati audience and tributes in the programme from, among others, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schröder. It also included the world premiere of Sur le Même Accord, a nocturne for violin and orchestra by Henri Dutilleux, the most recent of a long line of composers to have been inspired by the glamorous Anne-Sophie Mutter....After the interval, Masur and the LPO were left to their own devices for Debussy's La Mer and Ravel's La Valse. Masur probed Debussy's seascape with lingering fondness, often dawdling over the sonorities at the expense of propulsion. Ravel's great tone poem uses an out-of-control Viennese waltz as a metaphor for imploding imperial culture. It was gloriously played' The Guardian 01/05/02 'This was a concert in celebration of Kurt Masur's 75th birthday... the London Philharmonic Orchestra's chief conductor was back in business, after an extended period of surgery and recuperation. And he was bringing with him two special presents: Anne-Sophie Mutter, and a new work written for her golden violin by the French master Henri Dutilleux, a mere 86 himself. The hall was sold out. Festivities began with Beethoven’s violin Romances... Mutter conjured from her instrument the fastest vibrato in the west, each note burnished with a little halo. But agility was never affected. With one flick of her bow and fingers, forte became the softest pianissimo. And the second Romance’s serene song undulated in a seamless line...party hats remain in order: it’s good to have Masur back.' The Times 01/05/02 21 April 2002 Elgar The Dream of Gerontius 'And if listeners can approach from any point of view, so can conductors, as Mark Elder proved in this refreshing account by the London Philharmonic... The combined yet complementary Temple Church and London Philharmonic Choirs were equally good at evoking everything from hushed devotion to heavenly splendour. They were incisive in the big choruses, and for once it was possible to feel that the fugue in the Demons' Chorus was not written for tradition's sake but for dramatic sense and impact. Its spikiness fitted with the rattle of the orchestra.' The Times 24/04/2002 'One of the most striking features of the magnificent performance of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius by Mark Elder was the way in which it seemed to reinvent the Royal Festival Hall sound...it had a depth, breadth and resonance that was quite transforming...The London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus did Elder proud' The Independent 29/04/02 9 March 2002 Roots: Classical Fusions '…spectacularly vivid performance of Holst's The Planets, conducted by Marin Alsop.' The Times 12/03/02 6 March 2002 Saariaho Aile du Songe for Flute and Orchestra 'Solo instruments emerge from the accompanying texture, mimicking the flute's bird-like refrains. The result is dazzling. Saariaho creates a stunningly sensual sound world.' The Guardian 08/03/02 27 February 2002 Messiaen Turangalîla symphonie 'his entire performance was from memory; and, although earlier and later movements stretch virtuosity itself to breaking point, it was here that Aimard's truest and most distinctive genius rang out.' The Times 01/03/02 23 February 2002 Mozart Divertimento in F, K.138 'The playing of the London Philharmonic in the central Andante was longbreathed and beautifully phrased.' The Times 26/02/02 17 February 2002 Stavinsky Odepius Rex '... the ominous choral components came across with a real sense of dramatic purpose.' The Telegraph 19/02/02 13 February 2002 Mozart Piano Concerto 9 in E flat, K.271 'Maria João Pires was spellbinding. Since Clara Haskil, I cannot remember playing of such intimacy, tenderness, and simplicity.' The Independent 26/02/02 13 February 2002 Stravinsky Suite: Pulcinella 'Tortelier drew a full, rounded sound from the reduced London Philharmonic; the textures came through thickly, with a fruity bassoon plumping up the opening, and the violins duetting brightly. Indeed, the strings radiated exuberance.' The Guardian 15/02/02 13 February 2002 Stravinsky Rite of Spring '...a startling, electrifying performance.' The Guardian 15/02/02 26 January 2002 Dvorák Cello Concerto in B minor 'Rozhdestvensky stirred the London Philharmonic to a particularly vivid reading.' The Times 30/01/02 12 December 2001 Prokofiev Symphony 5 in B flat 'The whole performance was a testament to a love at first sight between conductor and orchestra; not only was it one of the LPO’s finest hours in the concert hall, but it brought further evidence of the whirlwind the 29-year-old Russian [Vladimir Jurowski] is already bringing to British musical life.' Daily Telegraph 15/12/01 7 December 2001 Beethoven Symphony 8 in F 'Norrington is never ordinary and, with the LPO basses posted high at the back of the band, the horns at one side and the trumpets on the otherm, he gave the most thrillingly original performance of the symphony imaginable.' The Guardian 12/12/01 5 December 2001 Beethoven Symphony 4 in B flat 'The best section is the slow movement, in which the LPO strings and woodwind sustained the long, floating lines with poise.' The Guardian 08/12/01 1 December 2001 Beethoven Symphony 6 in F (Pastoral) '...lusty and literal with well judged tempos...' The Independent 02/12/01 28 November 2001 Beethoven Symphony 1 in C 'Staccato chords bit the air; the funeral march wended its way supported by growling double basses.' The Times 30/11/01 24 November 2001 Saariaho Graal Théâtre for Violin and Orchestra 'A well-rehearsed LPO buckled down happily, whether following in Kremer’s footsteps with enticing pinpricks of sound or raising its muscle for a full tutti scrap.' The Times 28/11/0 17 November 2001 Rheinberger Passacaglia, Op,132 'The gentlemanly double-basses were commendably nimble in their running division.' The Evening Standard 09/11/01 7 November 2001 Tchaikovsky Symphony 4 in F minor 'The finale exploded unexpectedly like the loudest firework in the box. A memorable night.' The Evening Standard 09/11/01 16 September 2001 Bruckner Symphony 3 in D minor 'Much depends on the brass in Bruckner, and here those back rows of the orchestra supplied playing of dark splendour. The timpani were unusually expressive, too. But the whole orchestra caught the searing, solemn tone and nobility of the Adagio.' The Times 18/09/01 Back to top >