The National Symphony Orchestra and Gianandrea Noseda are offering some vivid playing these days. Last week, Daniil Trifonov brought in crowds and helped make the evening feel like a big event before it even started. After the concert was over, most people I heard from were buzzing about Noseda and the orchestra in the powerful Shostakovich Sixth Symphony. But the whole program didn’t have the immediacy or excitement of something necessary; it was an exercise in filling an evening with passably attractive music. I think this orchestra and conductor are capable of more, and I hope they find more programs to bear that out.

Source: Washington Post February 08, 2019 04:41 UTC