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Incisive Energy
Music-making by Natalie Clein and Sinfonia Viva,
heard by MIKE WHEELER
Juxtaposing the suite from Stravinsky's Pulcinella (the cradle of his neo-classical style) and Sibelius's Third Symphony, Sinfonia Viva and Principal Conductor André de Ridder (Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, UK, 2 November 2010) not only offered a piquant study in contrasts but highlighted the degree to which Sibelius's taut masterpiece itself represents something of a neo-classical outlook, albeit of a Beethovenian rather than a mid eighteenth-century kind.
The Stravinsky performance was bright and tangy, but with plenty of expressive warmth, too. The Tarantella, in particular, was full of springy balletic vigour, the grace and elegance of the Gavotte was subverted by just the right amount of street-theatre vulgarity in the trombone/bass duo of the Vivo that followed...
Copyright © 7 November 2010
Mike Wheeler,
Derby UK
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