Tag Archives: Balakirev

Poetic Rachmaninov in Seong-Jin Cho’s LSO debut

Posted on March 29, 2019 by Mark Pullinger

Noseda/ London Symphony Orchestra 28th March 2019 An exploratory trumpet peeps over a wall. A bassoon hesitantly waddles into view. A cheeky clarinet offers a leering response. Within just a few bars at the start of Dmitri Shostakovich’s First Symphony, … Continue reading →

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Russian Roulette: Pappano’s spin through the Mighty Handful

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Mark Pullinger

Orchestra of the ROH/Pappano *** Royal Opera House, 8th February 2016 Exploring the music of Russia’s “Mighty Handful” would seem a useful limber up for the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and Sir Antonio Pappano ahead of the upcoming … Continue reading →

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Brooding Rachmaninov 3 from Gergiev and the LSO

Posted on August 30, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.3; Balakirev: Russia Of Rachmaninov’s three symphonies, the Third enjoys the least popularity. There’s a certain notoriety to the First because of its disastrous première (thanks to a drunken Glazunov conducting), while the Second is adored for its … Continue reading →

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Unwrapping an enigma: Gergiev’s electrifying Shostakovich 15

Posted on May 13, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Balakirev, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich: LSO/Gergiev ***** Barbican Hall, 12th May 2015 “A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma.” That description could apply to Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony, with its impish musical quotations punctuating its dark brooding character. It would also … Continue reading →

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A Russian heritage: Gergiev’s cataclysmic Rachmaninov with the LSO

Posted on February 20, 2015 by Mark Pullinger

Balakirev/Glazunov/Rachmaninov: LSO/ Gergiev *** Barbican Hall, 19th February 2015 With speculation mounting about the appointment of his successor as Principal Conductor, there has been little evaluation of Gergiev’s time at the helm of the LSO. Apart from an impulsive, erratic … Continue reading →

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