Royal Festival Hall, LondonSome conductors would be content to open an orchestral season with Beethoven's Choral symphony and leave it at that. Not Esa-Pekka Salonen. The Philharmonia's principal conductor is an ideas man. As one would expect, he delivered a satisfyingly blazing account of the Ninth. But he also placed it firmly in a context that made one think about Beethoven's artistic journey towards the originality of the Ninth and about the enduring legacy of this most unsurpassable symphon...
Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonSome conductors would be content to open an orchestral season with Beethoven's Choral symphony and leave it at that. Not Esa-Pekka Salonen. The... more info