Category Archives: In concert

In concert – Mao Fujita, Philharmonia Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä: Missy Mazoli, Mozart & Mendelssohn

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Mao Fujita (piano), Philharmonia Orchestra / Osmo Vänskä

Missy Mazzoli These Worlds In Us (2006)
Mozart Piano Concerto no.25 in C major K503 (1786)
Mendelssohn Symphony no.5 in D minor Op.107, ‘Reformation’ (1830)

Royal Festival Hall, London
Thursday 20 March 2025

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Picture (c) Marc Gascoigne

Japanese pianist Mao Fujita has shown his impressive Mozart credentials in highly praised recordings of the composer’s complete piano sonatas. More recently his focus has shifted to the piano concertos.

Here he was partnered by the Philharmonia Orchestra and the visiting Osmo Vänskä in the substantial Piano Concerto no.25 in C major K503, a ceremonial work with fulsome orchestral accompaniment. Yet less is often more in Mozart performance, and that was certainly the case with Fujita as his fingers spun a magical web of notes. The piano’s magical first entry, after the pomp and circumstance of the introduction, was notable for its lightness of touch, Fujita listening closely to the Philharmonia wind players.

With so much to enjoy in this performance, Fujita exuded technical brilliance but also commendable restraint, always with affectionate shaping of the melodic line. That is, until the unattributed first movement cadenza. Here the rulebook was torn asunder, and a flow of unpredictable counterpoint broke loose, revealing links back to Bach but notably forward towards Beethoven.

Back under control, Fujita made the piano sing in the operatic slow movement, aided again by the quality of the wind section under Vänskä, who secured typically detailed, transparent clarity. The first violins began the finale with their touch as light as a feather, after which Fujita put the pedal to the metal once again, taking great pleasure in Mozart’s sparky dialogue with the orchestra. His encore, the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in C major K545, featured a delightful ‘wrong’ chord near the end, affectionately given and rounding off a truly memorable performance.

Prior to this we heard Missy Mazzoli’s These Worlds In Us, dedicated to her father, who was a soldier in the Vietnam War. Her imaginative orchestration extended to the use of wheezy melodicas in the outer section, adding a dreaminess and heightening the link with the music of Bali. The sighing violin theme was profound, but most telling of all was the soft rat-a-tat of the snare drum, a quiet but ominous reminder of war amidst the otherwise bright scoring. Mazzoli’s music has deeply human qualities that came alive in this performance.

For the second half, Vänskä led a dramatic account of Mendelssohn’s Symphony no.5, the Reformation. Second in order of composition, it was the last of his symphonies to be properly published, on account of its troublesome reception in 1832. In more recent years however the work has enjoyed greater exposure, rewarding its portrayal of triumph in turbulent times.

The magical hush from the strings of the Dresden Amen, quoted by the composer in the first movement, drew the audience in before Vänskä powered through a turbulent Allegro. The second movement danced like a late Haydn minuet, brisk and with a charming trio, while the Andante looked inwards, initially beyond comfort but ultimately softening to the touch. Mendelssohn’s quotation of the Lutheran chorale Ein feste Burg came to the rescue, sweetly intoned by flautist Samuel Coles, before the orchestra enjoyed Mendelssohn’s exuberant finale, and its parallels to Handel’s Messiah. As is his wont, Vänskä revealed previously hidden orchestral detail, giving a fully convincing account of a symphony whose cumulative power is all the more remarkable given Mendelssohn was 21 at the time of composition. Youth and experience were ideal foils here.

For details on the their 2024-25 season, head to the Philharmonia Orchestra website

Published post no.2,481 – Saturday 22 March 2025

In concert – Philharmonia Chamber Players – Beethoven: Septet

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Philharmonia Chamber Players [Maura Marinucci (clarinet), Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay (violin), Scott Dickinson (viola), Alexander Rolton (cello), Owen Nicolaou (double bass), Sarah Pennington (horn), Marceau Lefèvre (bassoon)

Beethoven Septet in E flat major Op.20 (1802)

Royal Festival Hall, London
Thursday 20 March 2025 6pm

Reviewed by Ben Hogwood Picture (c) Marc Gascoigne

Beethoven’s six-movement Septet is, to all intents and purposes, a Serenade for seven instruments. As such it was perfectly timed in this early evening slot, the ideal piece with which to entertain a relaxed and healthily-sized crowd.

Clarinettist Maura Marinucci introduced the work, and her love of the piece was clearly shared by her Philharmonia Orchestra friends as they went about a performance that was by turns vigorous and lyrical.

Beethoven’s scoring was highly original in 1802, and it is easy to see why the piece proved so popular, with its abundance of good tunes and colourful textures. These were evident right from the opening, the bassoon and double bass giving a lovely heft to the lower end of the sound. They supported the winsome tunes, divided largely between Marinucci’s clarinet and the violin of Zsolt-Tihamér Visontay. Marinucci especially enjoyed the soft-hearted second movement, while Visontay had an increasingly virtuosic role to play, sometimes pushing ahead of the tempo in his eagerness but relishing Beethoven’s technical challenges.

The Minuet, with its impudent theme thumbing a nose at the audience, was nicely done, while the theme and variations forming the fourth movement were especially enjoyable, notably the first variation, assigned to the upper string trio, and the mischievous final variation and coda.

Above all this performance was a great deal of fun, the players enjoying sharing the tuneful material with their audience, an approach capped by a quickfire finale and dazzling cadenza from Visontay. Just as affecting, mind, was the hushed chorale from the winds preceding this moment.

Ultimately the music matched the weather, bringing the vitality of early spring to the Royal Festival Hall stage.

For details on the their 2024-25 season, head to the Philharmonia Orchestra website

Published post no.2,480 – Friday 21 March 2025

In concert – Alisa Weilerstein, CBSO / Joshua Weilerstein: Dvořák, Rachmaninoff & Still

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Alisa Weilerstein (cello, below), City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Joshua Weilerstein (above)

Still Poem for Orchestra (1944)
Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor, B191 (1894)
Rachmaninoff Symphonic Dances, Op. 45 (1940)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 12 March 2025 (2:15pm)

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture of Joshua Weilerstein (c) Beki Smith

Joshua Weilerstein is always a welcome returning artist to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, invariably with artful programmes such as this afternoon’s interplay of American music with that by European composers finding themselves in temporary or permanent exile.

The music of William Grant Still has made a tentative re-emergence over recent years, Poem for Orchestra being typical of that from his maturity in its galvanizing a late-Romantic idiom with an emotional range of almost cinematic immediacy. Weilerstein steered a secure course through a piece whose darkness-to-light trajectory mirrors that of an accompanying poem by the composer’s wife Verna Avery, in which the foreseeable end of world war might yet bring a new unity and compassion as is reflected through the enfolding euphony of its final pages.

Joshua and his sister Alisa (above) have both appeared often with the CBSO, though Dvořák’s Cello Concerto seems to have been their first Symphony Hall collaboration. Hopefully not the last, their rapport manifest as soon as the opening Allegro’s orchestral tutti has run its purposeful course. Any marginal falling-off of momentum over the latter stages of the development was more than offset by the soloist’s thrilling ascent into the reprise of the easeful second theme, with the coda’s treacherous passagework assuredly negotiated prior to an affirmative ending.

The ensuing Adagio is the work’s emotional heard in all respects, but these siblings rightly refrained from milking the pathos of its ruminative main theme at all times, so throwing the drama of the central episodes then especially the confiding intimacy at its close into greater relief. Lunched directly, the Finale exuded an impetus as sustained this movement through to its extended coda which, more than usually, seemed to warrant a raptly inward outcome – though there was nothing contrived about the heady arrival of those exhilarating final bars.

Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances is hardly a stranger to concert programmes these days, the CBSO having given several memorable accounts in recent seasons. That by Weilerstein was certainly among them, above all with an opening dance whose trenchant outer sections elided perfectly into then out of the central span characterized by Kyle Horch’s soulful alto saxophone. Nor did the Tempo di valse disappoint in its mingled stealth and malevolence, even if the closing pages perhaps dispersed their ominous aura just a little too temperately.

Much the most difficult movement to hold together, the final dance left a potent impression. Its outer sections never rushed and superbly articulated, Weilerstein made the most of that spellbinding transition into a central section where (uniquely with this composer) harmony or texture predominate over melody in defining this music’s expressive persona. From here he ratcheted up tension heading to a seismic confrontation of competing plainchants, then a denouement almost choreographed in its stillness as that final tam-tam echoed into silence.

Directing without a score, this is definitely a work with which Weilerstein feels an especial identity, and the CBSO was unstinting in its collective response. One can only look forward to further concerts between this orchestra and conductor, and hopefully in the coming season.

For details on the 2024-25 season A Season of Joy, head to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra website. Click on the names to read more about conductor Joshua Weilerstein, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and composer William Grant Still

Published post no.2,472 – Thursday 13 March 2025

In concert – Emmanuel Despax @ Bechstein Hall, London

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Emmanuel Despax (piano)

Ravel Miroirs (1905)
Despax Sounds of Music – Concert Paraphrase on The Sound of Music by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein (unknown)
Fauré arr. Despax Après un rêve Op.7/1 (1877)
Debussy Clair de lune (1905)
Ravel Gaspard de la nuit (1908)

Bechstein Hall, London, 7 March 2025

by John Earls. Photo credit (c) John Earls

The most recognised piece of music by French composer Maurice Ravel is his 1928 large orchestral work Boléro, famously used in the film 10 and by Torvill and Dean when ice dancing their way to a 1984 Winter Olympics gold medal.

But there is also a magnificent repertoire of piano music including for solo piano and this provided the main feature of this recital by Emmanuel Despax, marking the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth.

The first set opened with Miroirs (Mirrors), a suite of five short movements Ravel dedicated to his fellow members of the French avant-garde artist group Les Apaches.

Noctuelles (Night Moths) had twinkling moments of calm surfacing through its dark undertones, contemplative birdsong is evoked in Oiseaux tristes (Sad Birds), Une barque sur l’océan (A Boat on the Ocean) captured both the flow and ripple of the waves, Alborada del gracioso (The Jester’s Aubade) had a jittery, Spanish aspect, and the bells of La vallée des cloches (The Valley of Bells) are not peals so much as melancholic, dark flashes.

The set ended with Despax’s Sounds of Music, a ‘Concert Paraphrase’ on Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music. I enjoyed its dark humour and nods to other classical piano composers – “If you hear something you recognise it’s not plagiarism, it’s on purpose” Despax forewarned us.

The second set opened with Despax’s arrangement of Faure’s Après un rêve (After a Dream) which was serious and majestic followed by Debussy’s Clair de lune (Moonlight) which whilst thoughtful and considered was also beautifully delicate and expressive.

But the evening was Ravel’s and it concluded with his epic three part masterpiece Gaspard de la nuit (Gaspard of the Night) derived from the prose poems by Aloysius Bertrand. Described by Despax as a “symphonic work for solo piano” it is notoriously difficult to play.

Ondine’s hypnotic trills are shaken by a short powerful blast towards the end and Despax displayed his virtuosity throughout. Le Gibet presents bells of a different kind to those featured in the earlier set, more disturbing and ominous as the repeating tolls maintained throughout evoke the lone hanged man of its inspiration. The way Despax leaned into his keyboard in rapt concentration reminded me of jazz pianist Brad Mehldau at his most intense. The final piece, Scarbo, depicts a mischievous goblin and was spritely before its dramatic long pause towards the end and a forceful energetic finish. It was as captivating to watch as it was to listen to.

What was clear from this performance is the attachment and affinity that Emmanuel Despax has for the music of Maurice Ravel. This was confirmed by an encore of Pavane pour une infante défunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess) which provided a moving and tender conclusion to the evening.

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union. He posts on Bluesky and tweets / updates his ‘X’ content at @john_earls

Published post no.2,468 – Sunday 9 March 2025

In concert – Quatuor Danel: Shostakovich & Weinberg #9 with François-Frédéric Guy @ Wigmore Hall

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François-Frédéric Guy (piano), Quatuor Danel [Marc Danel & Gilles Millet (violins), Vlad Bogdanas (viola), Yovan Markovitch (cello)]

Weinberg String Quartet no.13 Op.118 (1977)
Shostakovich String Quartet no.13 in B flat minor Op.138 (1970)
Shostakovich Piano Quintet in G minor Op.57 (1940)

Wigmore Hall, London
Thursday 6 March 2025

by Richard Whitehouse Photos (c) Marco Borggreve (Quatuor Danel), Lyodoh Kaneko (François-Frédéric Guy)

Quatuor Danel’s cycle at Wigmore Hall focussing on the string quartets of Shostakovich and Weinberg continued this evening with the Thirteenth Quartets by both composers, alongside the Piano Quintet that has long been among the former’s most representative chamber works.

After his exploratory (while not a little disconcerting) Twelfth Quartet, Weinberg avoided the medium for several years before penning four such pieces in relatively swift succession. Cast in a single movement of barely 15 minutes the Thirteenth Quartet, the shortest of his cycle, is influenced as much by Shostakovich’s late quartets as Weinberg’s own precedents. Facets of sonata form underpin its reticent progress from uncertain inwardness to unwilling animation – a vein of equivocation pervading the whole so that its eventual culmination does little more than lead back towards the initial stasis. Its progress enroute is similarly reticent, though this was hardly the fault of the Danel who unfolded the overall design with unforced conviction. Nor did they underplay the plangency of the ending, with its anguished crying into the void.

Seven years earlier, Shostakovich had essayed an altogether more radical take on the single-movement format with his own Thirteenth Quartet. It is dedicated to Vadim Borisovsky, then violist of the Beethoven Quartet, and the viola is audibly ‘first among equals’ over almost its entirety. Nominally the darkest and most forbidding of this cycle, the hymnic lamentation of its outer Adagio sections is thrown into relief by the Doppio movimento central span whose jazz-inflected impetus is but its most fascinating aspect; added to which, those frequent taps onto the body of each instrument (which evoke a death-rattle or a rhythm-stick according to preference) readily accentuate a sense of time running out. Vlad Bogdanas made the most of his time in the spotlight, not least at the close as viola joins with violins to unnerving effect.

After the interval it was a relief to encounter the younger, resilient Shostakovich of his Piano Quintet. Its piano part conceived as a vehicle for himself, this marked the onset of a creative association with the Beethoven Quartet as lasted almost until the end of his life. It also finds the composer immersed in Bachian precedent – witness the powerfully rhetorical dialogue of piano and strings in its Prelude, then the severe yet never inflexible unfolding of form and texture in a Fugue whose abstraction is informed by a pathos the more acute in its restraint.

Playful and capricious by turns, the Scherzo makes for a striking centrepiece in spite (even because?) of its technical challenge. Suffice to add that François-Frédéric-Guy (above) and the Danel met this head on – after which, the Intermezzo mined a vein of soulfulness as was never less then affecting, while the Finale sounded more than unusually conclusive in the way it drew together aspects from the earlier movements towards a whimsical and even nonchalant close. At this stage, Shostakovich could still afford a measure of levity in his emotional response.

Thanks to Marc Danel’s acrobatics with a flying bow, the third movement stayed on course but it was no hardship to have this movement given even more scintillatingly as an encore. May 6th brings the penultimate recital in what has been an absorbing and revelatory series.

You can hear the music from the concert below, in recordings made by Quatuor Danel -including their most recent cycle of the Shostakovich quartets on Accentus:

For more information on the next concert in the series, visit the Wigmore Hall website. You can click on the names for more on composer Mieczysław Weinberg, Quatuor Danel and pianist François-Frédéric Guy

Published post no.2,467 – Saturday 8 March 2025