Five stars for TSO’s Beethoven No. 5: 'thrillingly focused and incisive'

TSO musicians, our Chief Conductor and guest soprano Camilla Tilling garnered rave reviews for Friday night’s Beethoven's Fifth concert.

Limelight magazine gave the performance five stars, with reviewer Peter Donnelly writing that a ‘focused and incisive TSO’ made this ‘perennial favourite sound fresh’.

Other audience members also responded with glowing praise in our post-concert survey. Many responses mentioned the clear enjoyment of our TSO musicians under the direction of our Chief Conductor and Artistic Director Eivind Aadland, who conducted Beethoven’s Fifth entirely from memory.

‘The conducting (was) full of vitality and impressive, particularly in Beethoven’s fifth without the use of a score,’ an audience member wrote.

'It was the best rendition of Beethoven's 5th I've ever heard,’ another wrote. Yet another commented: ‘Wonderful surround sound and amazing conductor and musicians to pull off yet another genius concert on such a cold night.’

'So beautifully timed - subtle pauses that had me holding my breath for the next note; remarkable light and shade so that the sound swelled to fill the auditorium and then contracted until you could hear a pin drop,' another audience member said.

In Limelight, Donnelly also called out Eivind Aadland’s conducting and gave special mention to our Principal Timpani Matthew Goddard.

‘It was again remarkable how fresh and newly minted this perennial favourite sounded in (Aadland’s) hands. The control of tension, such as the sense of anticipation and hushed dynamic achieved at the transition to the exciting finale, was highly effective, with Matthew Goddard’s soft taps on timpani registering tellingly from his positioning amongst the cellos and basses on the stage’, Donnelly wrote.

‘The whole orchestra was on top form throughout, thrillingly focused and incisive, making this a highlight of this concert season,’ the reviewer added.

Donnelly also had high praise for our guest soprano, Camilla Tilling (pictured above) who performed Gustav Mahler’s Rückert Lieder.

The concert opened with English composer Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans.

'Making her TSO debut, Swedish soprano Camilla Tilling proved to be a superb advocate for these gorgeous songs. Her warm but clear tone, vocal agility and sheer musicality was a constant delight,' Donnelly wrote.

‘Short, intense and overflowing with positive rhythmic energy, with a contrasting melting flute melody as well as the inclusion of stomping feet and vocalisation from orchestral players, it was instantly gripping and totally exhilarating,’ he said of the TSO's Restless Oceans performance in his Limelight review.

Luckily for those in the front row, there were no flying batons for the dramatic finish of Restless Oceans, unlike during the dress rehearsal (see video below)!

‍