Michael Portillo leads ovation
Review by Igor Aleksander

SINFONIA 21’s concert of 29 November, also heard last Wednesday on BBC Radio 3, was a scintillating success.

In the final piece, Beethoven’s 7th Symphony, the orchestra gave such an uplifting performance under Martyn Brabbins’ baton, that the audience sprang to its feet in enthusiastic applause, including Michael Portillo, chairman of Sinfonia 21, and Lord Saatchi.

The programme opened with Igor Stravinsky’s Orpheus. The orchestra gave a particularly brilliant interpretation of the demise of Orpheus and the gentle release of tension in the final ‘apotheosis’.

As always, Oliver Rivers, chief executive of IC’s orchestra in residence, included a contemporary piece in the programme — David Sawer’s Tiroirs — an exciting investigation of communication between local tones in the orchestra and whipcracks in a way that is remeniscent of nesting language phrases.