Gianandrea Noseda: Fantasy and Fury | London Symphony Orchestra

Fantasy and fury: Gianandrea Noseda conducts Prokofiev at his most explosive, and Beethoven at his most serene, with violinist Lisa Batiashvili as soloist.

Prokofiev adapted his Third Symphony from an opera of lust, longing, and demonic possession, and you can tell. The whole orchestra seems to blaze from within: this is 20th century music at its most ferocious and flamboyant. It’s the most powerful imaginable foil to the rapturous song and timeless serenity of Beethoven’s radiant Violin Concerto.

That goes double when Lisa Batiashvili is the soloist. She’s a good friend of the LSO’s and the sound she makes has to be heard to be believed. ‘There is something so super intuitive about (Lisa’s) playing’ wrote one critic. ‘The range of her colours and the sheer invention of her phrasing are subsumed into the intrigue of her musical storytelling’. Music like this is never just about the notes …