LSO/ Semyon Bychkov ****
Barbican Hall, 5th October 2017
It was another evening staring into the abyss courtesy of the London Symphony Orchestra. A fortnight after Sir Simon Rattle drove his charges into hell in a thrilling Damnation of Faust, Semyon Bychkov presided over a pair of works that each teeters on the edge of the precipice. Mahler’s Fifth Symphony opens with a grim funeral march and demonic trio, followed by a vehement second movement. Britten’s Violin Concerto begins with a fragile lament, while the elegiac coda shifts from prayer to desperate cry and a final sense of resignation. Not a programme for the faint-hearted.
Janine Jansen
© Marco Borggreve
Read the full review on Bachtrack.