Tasmin Little/PhiIip Dukes/NSO/Rimma Sushanskaya

l have rarely seen St John's, Smith Square as full as it was on Remembrance Sunday for this Handel-Mozart programme. Perhaps, being close to Whitehall and the Cenotaph, the much larger numbers of visiting sightseers and thosepaying their respects earlier in the day helped add to the audience. But for whatever reason St John's was over 90% full — and the audience commendably silent during the music and hugely appreciative of the quality of music-making which was of a consistently high standard….

…. Mozart's sublime Sinfonia Concertante K364 had the admirable advantage of Tasmin Little and Philip Dukes as soloists, under a conductor - the last pupil of David Oistrakh - who herself has played the solo violin part many times. This was an account of considerable musical insight and stature, the soloists playing from the start, and thereby making their later solo-and-duet statements thoroughly threaded through Mozart's myriad textures. The depth of realisation. especially in
the finely-paced Andantino, was very moving: a quite memorable performance….

Robert Matthew-Walker