The London Philharmonic Orchestra performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 at the Royal Festival Hall on Wednesday 16 November, under conductor Osmo Vänskä with violinist Janine Jansen.
Reviewed by Erica Jeal in The Guardian:
Jansen’s playing was full of personality – and, under Osmo Vänskä’s meticulous direction, the orchestra matched her at every step, from the soft-grained string opening, through the whispered slow-movement accompaniments, to the colourful wind solos in the finale.
Reviewed by Colin Anderson on Classicalsource.com:
The LPO and Vänskä were faithful accompanists (full of expectation from the off) and woodwind solos were quite lovely; especially from flute and clarinet in the middle-movement ‘Canzonetta’.
Reviewed by Geoff Brown on Theartsdesk.com:
Along the way through the symphony’s peaks and valleys, the LPO’s playing achieved exceptional refinement. We’ll forget the odd fluff in the brass; what counted much more were the horn calls’ pristine beauty; or the loving, unapologetic treatment of the humble melody during what Bruckner called the Scherzo’s ‘lunch break’; or the cellos’ velvet glow, specifically emphasised by Vänskä within the orchestral textures.
Reviewed by Hilary Finch in The Times (available to paid subscribers only):
Osmo Vänskä is now well on the way to becoming a distinguished Brucknerian. Or so it seemed on the evidence of his recent visit to the London Philharmonic, when he put the orchestra through its paces in a buoyant and searching performance of Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony.
Reviewed by Ken Ward, Editor of The Bruckner Journal on bachtrack.com:
It was a performance that raised interesting and provoking questions about how you might perform a Bruckner symphony with a light classical touch, rather than the heavy, monumental and deeply emotional romanticism that is characteristic of most performances, and as such it was a considered and thoughtful approach.