In Concert: London Chamber Music Society – Ariel Lanyi, London Firebird Orchestra / George Jackson @ St. John’s Waterloo: Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Puccini & Haydn

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Ariel Lanyi (piano, below), London Firebird Orchestra / George Jackson (above)

Mendelssohn Overture: A Midsummer Night’s Dream Op.21 (1826)
Beethoven Piano Concerto no.4 in G major Op.58 (1805-06)
Puccini Crisantemi (1890)
Haydn Symphony no.96 in D major ‘The Miracle’ (1791)

St John’s Church, Waterloo, London
Sunday 8 March 2026 [6pm]

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture of George Jackson (c) Short Eared Dog Photography; Picture of Ariel Lanyi (c) Kaupo Kikkas

Having appeared at London Chamber Music Society on four previous occasions, the London Firebird Orchestra tonight made its debut at the organization’s new home, St John’s Waterloo, with a programme largely focussing on music from the late Classical and early Romantic eras.

Mendelssohn’s overture A Midsummer Night’s Dream seldom disappoints as a concert-opener, and conductor George Jackson duly ensured a characterful reading at its best in those passages when the composer allows his imaginative response to Shakespeare’s drama free rein – which is not to suggest a lack of animation or impetus elsewhere. Incidentally the prominent part for ophicleide was taken by bass trombone, though the programme listed both instruments while, with the piano lid already raised, it was by no means easy to tell which one was being played.

That piano came to the fore during Beethoven’s Fourth Concerto, and a work clearly playing to the strengths of Israeli pianist (currently residing in London) Ariel Lanyi. Speculative and often capricious in its solo writing, the opening movement had expressive breadth if without losing focus during its intricate development, and Lanyi made a persuasive case for the less often heard of the composer’s own cadenzas – the granitic power of its culmination making the orchestra’s re-entry more poetic. Soloist and orchestra drew the requisite contrasts from the Andante, before such opposition was resolved in a coda of melting pathos, then the final Rondo exuded boisterous good humour without neglecting those more graceful elements as increasingly come to the fore and hence make its hectic closing bars the more exhilarating.

Lanyi acknowledged the (rightly) enthusiastic reception with an unexpected yet appealing encore of a Notturno (fourth from a set of six pieces) that Respighi wrote around 1904. Its raptness made an admirable foil to the more conventional while affecting elegy Crisantemi that Puccini wrote in memory of Amadeo I, his brief tenure as Spanish king pre-dating his final years in Turin where he befriended the Italian composer. Conceived for string quartet, its never cloying sentiment felt even more in evidence heard with a larger group of strings.

The nicknames appended to many Haydn symphonies are often approximate and none more so than with No. 96, the ‘miracle’ of the falling chandelier which caused no injuries almost certainly taking place during the premiere of No. 102. The earlier work is not quite its equal, but Jackson made the most of its attractions with a winning take on a first movement whose imposing Adagio prepares for an agile Allegro in almost constant development. The Andante has a cadenza-like lead in to its coda – leader Calyssa Davidson and violinist Victoria Marsh relishing the spotlight as audibly as did oboist Polly Bartlett her winsome contribution in the Menuetto. The final Vivace finds Haydn at his most laconic, as he nimbly alternates its main themes on route to a coda which brings the whole symphony to a suitably effervescent close.

It also brought to an end a well-planned and thoroughly enjoyable concert that played to the strengths of both orchestra and conductor. LCMS continues on March 22nd with the Sacconi Quartet in what looks to be a no less enticing programme of Haydn, Boccherini and Dvořák.

Click on the highlighted names to read more on the London Chamber Music Society season for 2025-26, the London Firebird Orchestra, conductor George Jackson and pianist Ariel Lanyi

Published post no.2,826 – Wednesday 11 March 2026

In concert – Hugh Cutting, Irish Baroque Orchestra / Peter Whelan @ Wigmore Hall

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Hugh Cutting (countertenor), Irish Baroque Orchestra (Peter Whelan, director)

Programme including pieces by Mozart, Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Christian Fischer, Tommaso Giordani and Thomas Arne. Full repertoire list at the bottom of this review

Wigmore Hall, London, 9 March 2026

by John Earls. Photo credits John Earls

Giusto Ferdinando Tenducci (c. 1735-90) may not be a name on many people’s lips but he was something of a superstar in his day (his portrait was painted by Gainsborough twice). The Siena-born soprano castrato (who were the pop stars of their time) was not just a successful singer but his celebrity also featured a colourful life that included spells in a debtors’ prison and a scandal involving him marrying his teenage singing pupil Dorothea (Dora) Maunsell – the couple met in Dublin in Ireland but eloped to Cork, where he was also jailed for a time (the marriage was later annulled).

This concert explored the world and music of Tenducci and his time in Ireland (he spent the early part of his career touring Italian and German cities and came to prominence in London and Ireland in the late 1750s and early 1760s). The Irish Baroque Orchestra released the album The Trials of Tenducci: A Castrato in Ireland (Linn Records) in 2021 and a number of its pieces featured tonight, although there were some compositions too. On the album the singer is Irish mezzo-soprano Tara Erraught. Tonight’s singer was British countertenor Hugh Cutting, a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–24) and the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award. Cutting impressed me as Arsace in English National Opera’s recent surrealist production of Handel’s Partenope, and he made a very strong impact in this performance.

In a nice scene setter, the concert began with Mozart’s Symphony no. 1 which the composer wrote when he was just eight years old, about the time when Tenducci met him in England in 1764. The first set also included two arias from Mozart’s third opera Mitridate: re di Ponto: Già dagli occhi and Venga pur Minacci (which closed the first half) seeing Cutting give rein to his strong stage presence and in the latter, an, at times, literally pointed delivery.

The rest of the first set featured Thomas Arne’s Vengeance, O come inspire me! from Alfred (a forceful opener from Cutting with lively, bright accompaniment from the orchestra) and Water parted from the sea from Artaxerxes (which ran for some 33 performances in Dublin in 1765-66), delivered with clarity by Cutting (not so much the audience member who coughed loudly at the end).

Another first set highlight was the orchestra’s performance of Johann Christian Fischer’s Gramachree Molly with variations from the Oboe Concerto No. 7 which spotlighted some gorgeously expressive and fluent oboe playing by Emma Black.

The young Mozart’s Symphony no. 4 opened the second half followed by three pieces from Gluck’s opera Orfeo ed Euridice. Here the orchestra was in full command for Dance of the Furies with the two horn players holding their instrument’s bells upright for maximum impact. Cutting’s singing on Ahimè! dove trascorsi! and Che farò senza Euridice? was clear and passionate.

There then followed a piece where the orchestra absolutely shined. Tommaso Giordani’s The Celebrated Overture and Irish Medley to The Island of Saints saw Emma Black working oboe magic again, beautifully accompanied by plucked strings, for Shepherds I Have Lost My Love. The Irish Medley was given a joyous performance of its selection of Irish folk melodies featuring some fantastic fiddle playing. It was rewarded with rapturous applause – a perfect early Saint Patrick’s Day celebration. There was more Giordani of a different sort next with Caro mio ben, with Cutting’s vocals hanging confidently and elegantly.

Johann Christian Bach’s Vo solcando un mar crudele from Artaserse W.G 1 was a crisp, rousing finale giving full expression to Cutting’s virtuosity. A repeat of Caro mio ben served as an encore and was even more glorious than the first time round.

This was a mesmerising evening with a wonderful programme that highlighted that baroque music in Ireland goes further than the celebrated premiere of Handel’s Messiah in Dublin in 1742. Hugh Cutting and the Irish Baroque Orchestra are an outstanding combination. I hope there is more to come.

Hugh Cutting and the Irish Baroque Orchestra performed the following repertoire:

Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E flat major K16
Arne Vengeance, O come inspire me! from Alfred
Mozart Già dagli occhi from Mitridate, re di Ponto
Johann Christian Fischer Gramachree Molly with variations from Oboe Concerto No. 7
Arne Water parted from the sea from Artaxerxes
Mozart Venga pur Minacci from Mitridate, re di Ponto; Symphony No. 4 in D major K19
Gluck Dance of the Furies; Ahimè! dove trascorsi!; Che farò senza Euridice? from Orfeo ed Euridice
Giordani The Celebrated Overture and Irish Medley to The Island of Saints; Caro mio ben;
Johann Christian Bach Vo solcando un mar crudele from Artaserse W.G 1

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union and posts at @johnearls.bsky.social on Bluesky and @john_earls on X. You can subscribe (free) to his Hanging Out a Window Substack column here: https://johnearls.substack.com/

Published post no.2,825 – Tuesday 10 March 2026

In Concert – Michael Collins & Wu Qian @ Wigmore Hall: Finzi, Martinů, Milhaud, Tailleferre & Arnold Cooke (reviewed online)

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Michael Collins (clarinet, above), Wu Qian (piano, below)

Finzi 5 Bagatelles Op.23 (1920-9)
Martinů Sonatina for clarinet and piano (1956)
Milhaud Duo Concertante Op.351 (1956)
Tailleferre Arabesque (1973)
Cooke Clarinet Sonata in B flat (1959)

Wigmore Hall, London
Monday 9 March, 1.05pm

Reviewed from the online broadcast by Ben Hogwood Photo of Michael Collins (c) Jack Lewis Williams

This was the first public appearance for Michael Collins and Wu Qian as a duo, yet together – on BBC Radio 3’s Lunchtime Concert at least – they displayed an easy familiarity, suggesting a partnership of a longer vintage.

They began with five much-loved miniatures from Gerald Finzi, often heard in isolation on rival radio stations. Collins and Qian enjoyed the bustling counterpoint of the outer Prelude and Fughetta movements, but the emotional heart of the set lay in the lovingly phrased Romance and Forlana, whose lilting rhythms were persuasively played, and the solemn Carol. The downbeat mood, inhabited from wartime struggles, was especially pertinent, though the Fughetta gave the music renewed energy in this performance.

Martinů’s Clarinet Sonatina is a late work, completed during a brief second stay in New York. The Czech composer was used to relocating at short notice on account of Nazi invasions of his homeland and Paris, but this brief second trip to America was an ultimately unsuccessful career move. The Sonatina inhabits the composer’s restlessness, looking longingly across the Atlantic towards Paris. This was captured by Collins and Qian in the bare piano octaves and reflective melody of the Andante, while the finale found greater conviction of feeling.

While Martinů pined for the French capital, Darius Milhaud was writing his Duo Concertant as a competition piece for his Paris Conservatoire students. Milhaud rarely outstays his welcome, and the piece was wrapped up with typical humour and a heartfelt central episode, gracefully played. Meanwhile the Arabesque of Milhaud’s fellow ‘Les Six’ member, Germaine Tailleferre, was a softly undulating dance that proved restrained yet elegant.

The English composer Arnold Cooke acquired a continental edge to his music thanks to a period of study with Paul Hindemith in the 1920s. His compositions for clarinet were written for Franz Reizenstein, also a pupil of Hindemith, and include a concerto and quintet. The airy first movement of the Clarinet Sonata in B flat – written deliberately without major or minor key labelling – was similarly elusive, its questioning line thoughtfully phrased by Collins in a satisfying balance with Qian.

The strident second movement is laced with humour which Collins was keen to bring out, before a probing slow movement with private asides from the clarinet hints at darker thoughts, particularly in its low burbling notes from the instrument near the end, suggesting a watery contemplation. The Finale swept these thoughts aside, making demands on Collins’ agility with the wide range of its thematic material, common across the work. The music dipped and weaved its way through a number of entertaining figures, plumping resoundingly for the major key in a hugely satisfying coda.

You can listen to this concert on BBC Sounds until 9th April.

Published post no.2,824 – Monday 9 March 2026

In appreciation – David Gilmour @ 80

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by Ben Hogwood

On Friday, the Pink Floyd guitarist and vocalist David Gilmour turned 80. I was fortunate to see him live at the Royal Albert Hall in 2006, so wanted to pay appreciation in the form of a favourite memory, a performance of Comfortably Numb with ex-bandmate Rick Wright:

Published post no.2,823 – Sunday 8 March 2026

Switched On – Moby: Future Quiet (BMG)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Quiet is the new loud for Moby, who revisits his ambient roots for album no.23. The springboard for this appears to have been the appearance of When It’s Cold I’d Like To Die, the closing track from the 1994 album Everything Is Wrong, in prominent parts of the Stranger Things series.

That song opens Future Quiet, sung by Gabriels singer Jacob Lusk, while Moby works in a sequence of vocal and instrumental tracks that are mostly on the slow and ambient side.

What’s the music like?

There is little doubt that this is the style Moby does best, his slightly mournful take on electronic ambient music working a treat here.

The vocal guests acquit themselves extremely well, none more so than serpentwithfeet on the understated On Air, India Carney on Precious Mind, and Moby himself on the plaintive This Was Never Meant For Us.

Yet less is more in this area of music, and if anything Moby’s instrumental music speaks with greater clarity. Ruhe and Great Absence are intimate piano pieces that could easily be played in the same house as the listener, while Mott Street 1992 circles back to its main piano motif. Subtle, floated vocals from Elise Serenelle boost Estrella Del Mar, while Tallinn has a lovely solo violin.

Does it all work?

Pretty much. On rare occasions the music threatens to be over-produced, but in general the room Moby affords his music adds to its emotional reach and ambience.

Is it recommended?

Yes, enthusiastically. Moby’s response to a frantic, fraught world is to seek solace in ambient music, and that we can easily join him that says much for the content of Future Quiet. It speaks very subtly but leaves a calming imprint that lasts long after you stop listening.

Listen / Buy

You can explore purchase options for physical formats of Future Quiet at the Norman Records website

Published post no.2,822 – Saturday 7 March 2026