Most Recent

Sommerfest artistic director Andrew Litton has a penchant for using the traditional opera finale of the Minnesota Orchestra's summer festival to conduct the warhorses. This year, he turned to Puccini's "Tosca." It was good to have the orchestra onstage rather than in a pit, and to watch them positively revel in Puccini's rich orchestrations. The clarity of the sound revealed many new orchestral details. From the thunderous cords that open the opera to the pastoral Prelude to Act III, Litton lavished loving care on every moment without compromising the overall dramatic thrust. Minnesota Orchestra/Sommerfest: Tosca

From the hushed polyphony of the slow introduction and the combative opening Allegro to a truely exultant finale, Litton and his spruce Bergen orchestra banish any hint of turgidity. Litton's scottish likewise combines verve, textural clarity and a vivid sense of atmosphere...Litton's fresh vivacious performance of the Italian [is] superbly played and recorded. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3, Scottish and Symphony No. 5, Reformation

This is one of the most enjoyable discs I've listened to in a long time. Contrary to what has sometimes been said, Mendelssohn's music does not play itself and here conductor Andrew Litton...allows himself to add dynamics in various places where the composer hadn't marked. In every case these additions are intelligent and tasteful and do much in the faster movements to bind them together. Litton, for my money, gets it right every time. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra;Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 1 Symphony No. 4, Italian and Ruy Blas Overture

This third and final disc to this [Mendelssohn] series is every way up to the high standards of its predecessors...It's easy to see why any orchestra would play its heart out for a conductor of such musical intelligence. Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra; Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3, Scottish and Symphony No. 5, Reformation

There is only one word for what I heard tonight - stunning. Bring Litton back, for the London concert stage needs this kind of brilliant advocacy. Bravo to all concerned. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2

The all-Russian programme opened with Glinka's Ruslan and Lyudmila Overture, an exuberant blast memorable for Litton's evident enjoyment. The evening closed with Rachmaninov's Second Symphony, a piece which clearly means a lot to Litton...If the performance didn't quite prove the symphony a masterpiece, that was no fault of either Litton or the RPO. Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1; Rachmaninov: Symphony No. 2

Best of all was the blazing account of the Rachmaninov [No. 2] symphony, music that Litton has recorded with the RPO. On this occasion although the score was on the conductor's stand, it remained unopened, Litton devoting himself wholly to the orchestra and eliciting playing of remarkable security and conviction.

Litton captured the dramatic power of the [Verdi Requiem] wonderfully. He has a solid grasp of it and his account was very nuanced and subtle...His interpretation was musical and emotionally charged. The orchestra played radiantly, giving one of the finest performances of the season, and the chorus...certainly outdid themselves.

The evening's focal point was Gustav Holst's The Planets, his hugely popular suite of seven portraits of these celestial bodies' astrological characteristics. It takes an experienced, confident hand to tackle such a wide range of rhythmic shifts, dynamic changes and mood variations. Litton not only confirmed that the piece held no obstacles for him, but also projected an eager joy in pointing up all the wonderful effects and surprises Holst scattered throughout the work.

This new [Prokofiev's Third Piano Concerto] from Freddy Kempf with the Bergen Philharmonic and Andrew Litton has a lot going for it. Kempf, Litton and the Bergen players are bursting with life; this is one of the most persuasive versions I've heard of this piece in recent years.

Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture, carefully-delineated and sustained at first, then driven crisply and rhythmically, moved towards a love theme whose intensity here was almost too much too bear. And Vaughan Williams' Symphony no.4 was searing and passionate, taking no prisoners, in Litton's reading with this pliant orchestra. Textures and timbres were consummately layered, instrumental solos were engaging, and the drama unfolded with relentless timing.

When a conductor with an international reputation as high as Andrew Litton comes to the Wycombe Swan to conduct the City of London Sinfonia and the London Symphony Chorus, one expects an exceptional concert. And this is what we received. His performance of Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony (No. 5) was as fine as any I have heard.

The conductor, Andrew Litton, debutant with the EUYO, stole the show as a first-class communicator. He gave the young musicians all the room to profile themselves in the solos and kept them together in passages where precise phrasing is of the essence.; European Union Youth Orchestra; Walton: Scapino Overture; Elgar: In the South; Holst: The Planets

In stark contrast Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in full orchestral guise, inhabits another world. Litton's dazzling fingerwork left myriad technical intricacies bereft of their potency with unstinting idiomatic support from the BSO. The demand for an encore was Round Midnight by Theolonious Monk in a marvelously moody realization. To top this, Litton turned to Mahler's Symphony No.5, delivered with patrician resolve, coherent and cogent in all its textural layers.

In the hands of Litton and his players, [Walton's 1st] symphony's immense energy, its huge dynamic thrust, grabbed the audience by the throat. Contrasts between the big brassy outbursts and the gentler, more romantic music were bold and highly dramatic.