Paavo Järvi marks his new LPO appointment in Tchaikovsky and Sibelius
By Mark Valencia, 05 March 2026
Bachtrack
https://bachtrack.com/review-jarvi-kantorow-tchaikovsky-sibelius-london-philharmonic-march-2026
Just a day after the London Philharmonic Orchestra announced Paavo Järvi as its next Chief Conductor and Artistic Advisor, a position he will assume in 2028, the man himself appeared at the helm of his new band. The timing was so apt it could have been planned, although heaven forfend it was anything other than coincidence. Either way, the evening was a triumph of rigour over razzmatazz.
Estonia’s favourite musical son (or grandson, since his father is Neeme Järvi) delivered a concert of splendour and excitement. The Second Symphony of Sibelius, which in lesser hands can land like a relic from Finland’s neighbour, Russia, was here replete with vistas of the composer’s homeland. Järvi’s invigorating tempi throughout the opening Allegretto gave a Nordic edge to music that often sounds like Tchaikovsky-lite. The LPO’s brass section infused rather than pierced the orchestral picture; in the ensuing Andante, ma rubato the massed cellos created magic with their pianissimi. Textures bordered on the sublime and the conductor’s punctilious baton work left no doubt as to why.
The third movement unveiled its big tune with a 19th-century grandeur (the Second dates from 1902, so that’s no surprise) then folded into a satisfying traversal of the majestic finale. Sibelius would never again bathe in the warm waters of formal Romanticism – his later symphonies have a starker, more concentrated beauty – but Järvi’s brisk advocacy rescued it from latent mawkishness and revealed characteristic winter landscapes beneath the sweep of its lush veneer.
Tchaikovsky himself was represented by his Second Piano Concerto, another broad canvas at 45 minutes for three movements and a showcase for the prodigious talents of Alexandre Kantorow, the French pianist and winner of the 2019 International Tchaikovsky Competition. Here, in his LPO debut, the young virtuoso threw himself into the mighty score and played its torrent of notes like a casual doodle. It was thrilling.
He launched in with handfuls of notes and a foot-ful of sustainer pedal – “Hello, LPO!”, so it seemed – before yielding to the lyricism of Tchaikovsky’s gorgeous second subject with its enchanting flute obbligato. Throughout the first movement’s epic duration, Kantorow weighted his touch with delicacy and musical truth. In places his hands crashed through the keyboard en masse; elsewhere the keys seemed to rise up and caress his fingers. The cadenza was electrifying.
In the second movement, an extended concertante piece for piano trio and orchestra, Kantorow was joined by section principals Pieter Schoeman (violin) and Kristina Blaumane (cello). Together they played with tenderness, eloquence and generosity. The three soloists were joined by a fourth – the orchestra – for a reading of cohesion and shared understanding, corralled with subtle authority by Järvi. At first the string soloists served as sentinels to attend on the pianist; Tchaikovsky waits seven or eight minutes to combine the trio into a harmonising unit.
Conductor and soloist charged through the Allegro con fuoco finale like a locomotive heading not towards buffers but high into a whirlwind of musical excitement. It was so exhilarating, so draining, that Kantorow’s gorgeous encore, Mikael Pletnev’s arrangement of the Pas de Deux from The Nutcracker, wasn’t just delightful, it was therapy. Sensational.
Comments