★★★★☆Now 82 and with an astonishing 550 concerts with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under his belt, Riccardo Muti can still galvanise musicians as few others ever will. Opening the CSO’s 14-concert European tour (which doesn’t include the UK for what’s diplomatically described as “logistical reasons”) at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, the Italian conductor offered the European premiere of a new Philip Glass piece, a beautifully spacious interpretation of Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony (gracefully rebuffing those who think being Italian means driving very fast and gesticulating wildly), and a performance of Prokofiev’s Fifth Symphony that grew more and more terrifying as it powered towards those percussion-driven last pages. Finally, in an encore paying homage to Puccini in his centenary year, he coaxed a wonderfullySponsored

Source: The Times January 13, 2024 00:03 UTC