“(…) Stéphane Denève is one of the most exciting conductors on the international scene today. With him came Jean-Yves Thibaudet, one of the world’s great pianists, in a noteworthy new work.
The music of Scottish composer James MacMillan (born 1959) makes a good introduction to contemporary music for those who think they don’t like it after being scarred by the ugliness-for-ugliness’-sake academicians’ music of the mid-century. MacMillan’s work is complex and can be challenging in its own way, but it always rewards the effort.
(..) Denève and Thibaudet provided a terrific words-and-music introduction to the piece (ending with a little piano four-hands excerpt) that put it all in context.
(…) Denève and the orchestra were outstanding colleagues in every way. There were notable contributions by virtually all the principal players, too many to mention. (…)”