Richard Bratby

A booster shot of sunlight: Unsuk Chin’s new violin concerto reviewed

Plus: I’ve seen subtler Figaros than David McVicar's at the Royal Opera House but it looked and sounded good, and the audience laughed a lot

Leonidas Kavakos is a genuine, old-school virtuoso, lustrous, muscular and glistening with vibrato. Image: Mark Allan Photography
  • Comments

  • LSO/Kavakos/Rattle

    Barbican Hall

  • The Marriage of Figaro

    Royal Opera House, in rep until 27 January

Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra began the year with a world première. Unsuk Chin’s Second Violin Concerto opened with the soloist, Leonidas Kavakos, completely alone in front of a silent orchestra, playing phrases that rocked back and forth until, suddenly, they were striking sparks. As well they might; Kavakos, after all, is the reason that the concerto exists — the violinist whose ‘burningly intense’ (the composer’s words) artistry has prompted Chin to break her self-imposed rule of writing only one concerto for any given instrument.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Read next

Trending

Edward Howell

Why Kim Jong-un keeps crying

Crying in public is something we tend to associate with the North Korean people rather than their rulers ­– who are often described as having a near god-like status. Who can forget, following the death of Kim Jong-il in 2011, how the streets of Pyongyang were lined with weeping mourners? So perhaps it was surprising to

Because you read about antonio pappano

Also by Richard Bratby

Latest

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in