BBCSO/Brabbins, Barbican ★★★★☆ The centenary of Luigi Nono’s birth year is not being celebrated as widely this year as the radical Venetian composer deserves, although the challenges of such an undertaking are easy to understand. A few decades ago the BBC Symphony Orchestra might have devoted one of its famous annual monographic composers’ weekends to … Read more
One of the most loved and esteemed conductors of his generation, Sir Andrew Davis, who has died of leukemia aged 80, was a well-known presence on stage, not least through his numerous appearances at the BBC Proms in his capacity as principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1989-2000). After Adrian Boult, this was the … Read more
Sir Andrew Davis, the conductor who has died aged 80, had the unusual honor of being simultaneously principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and musical director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera during the last decade of the 20th century. Cheerful and chuckling, Davis brought a great sense of humor and an innate musicality to … Read more