Back Reviewing Concerts: Nicholas McGegan Conducts the Bournemouth Symphony

Conductor Nicholas McGegan (Photo: Steve J Sherman)

I haven’t reviewed a concert in quite a while, so it was good to get back in the business, thanks to Bachtrack. Conductor Nicholas McGegan and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra certainly brought sensitivity and vitality to a collection of pieces by Shcubert, Mozart and Beethoven:

"At the other end of the programme, a rather more serious proposition in four movements: Schubert’s reasonably early but oh-so-mature Fifth Symphony. A product of Schubert’s 19th year, the Fifth demonstrates the charms of a composer who never seems to have suffered the stylistic growing pains of a man struggling for a mature voice. It was here that McGegan drew the best from the BSO, letting the music flow, bringing it to life by making the most of dynamic contrasts and pointed accents. He saw no need to tug at the tempi, and the orchestra responded with playing of considerable subtlety, a case in point being the hushed but nuanced sound of the strings giving space to the conversations of wind instruments as the first movement slipped from exposition to development."

Read the whole thing at Bachtrack.

Akiko Suwanai joins Sapporo SO's earthquake benefit concert in London

Tadaaki Otaka's superb Sapporo Symphony Orchestra turned a date on their 50th anniversary tour into a benefit concert in support of aid charities working in the hardest hit areas of Japan.  It was a great concert, though violinist Akiko Suwanai's exhaustingly forceful performance of the Bruch 1st concerto was perhaps not the high point.  Here's a quote from my review:

"Suwanai now performs with the Dolphin Stradivari of 1714, once owned and played by Heifetz.  By all accounts, Heifetz’s tone was comparatively small; Suwanai’s was at the other end of the spectrum, seeming to dwarf the collective contribution of the orchestra.  She was hugely secure throughout, but her aggressively clipped articulation proved wearing and even in the ‘Adagio’ she never relaxed."

Read my full review at Classicalsource.