| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 8-May-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | The Agony and the Ecstasy: LSO Performs Bartók and Szymanowski |
 Every now and then I like to experiment. Reviewing a concert in which I know none of the music can be frightening, but also exciting and – always – surprising. Thus I was slightly apprehensive but wholly enthusiastic about attending this LSO concert featuring works unknown to me by Bartók and Szymanowski. And after all, this music is not immediate, with show-stopping, crowd-pulling, radio-playing-in-the-background “listenability”.Read full review... | |
| 3-Mar-2012 Roy Thomson Hall | Con Brio: Premières with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra |
 "Con Brio" is a term which demands excitement, strength, and enthusiasm. This evening‘s Toronto Symphony Orchestra New Creations Series concert was based upon exactly these concepts. To kick off the program, Peter Oundjian led the TSO through the Canadian première of Jörg Widmann's concert overture Con Brio. The timpani opened followed by brief grandiose chords. The orchestra was overtaken by elongated, emphasized breaths. Unique techniques were used to produce unusual sounds: playing on the side casing of the snare drums, hitting the mouthpiece of the trumpet.Read full review... | |
| 17-Feb-2012 Musikverein: Großer Saal | Hilary Hahn excels in rare Schoenberg programme |
 Arnold Schoenberg rarely forms the backbone of orchestral concerts in either of his two homelands, and in an ideal world there would be more concerts like this, particularly in Vienna. We should however also remember that when it came to his music Schoenberg was concerned as much with the quality as with the quantity of performances, and while Péter Eötvös’s conducting may not have met the master’s uncompromising standards the RSO Wien contributed some committed and lyrical playing which took off much of the rebarbative edge that has limited place in Schoenberg’s writing.
Read full review... | |
