Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch/Blomstedt review – warmth and wisdom of a 90-year-old master

Barbican, London
A rarely heard Beethoven concerto was bright and captivating, while Blomstedt reached to the heart of Bruckner’s seventh symphony

It remains one of the endlessly debated mysteries of music why the work of some orchestral conductors gets more and more compelling with age. Herbert Blomstedt is perhaps the prime example of this phenomenon in the current era. Now a spritely 90, Blomstedt has come slowly and unobtrusively through a long career in Europe and America to reach cult status, but he has unquestionably ascended to that lofty point now, and a packed Barbican hall was proof that the Swede’s drawing power has never been greater.

Blomstedt and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, itself marking its 275th birthday, gave them what was very much a concert of two halves. Before the interval, there was a rare opportunity to hear Beethoven’s triple concerto for violin, cello and piano, a work better known from recordings than from performances in the flesh. But the rewards of this live performance, in a hall that allows the ear to follow detail and interplay between the soloists so clearly, were captivating.

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