fri 29/03/2024

Nicholas Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth Hall | reviews, news & interviews

Nicholas Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Nicholas Daniel, Britten Sinfonia, MacMillan, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Britain's top oboist dazzles in a new oboe concerto before rejoining the ranks

Nicholas Daniel: Tackling MacMillan's tough and brilliant new Oboe Concerto before slipping back into the ranks of the Britten Sinfonia

If you were one of the world's top soloists but with a limited concerto stock - as woodwind players' tend to be - wouldn't you find it more rewarding to work as a principal in the orchestral ranks? That's the ideal, surely, but few carry it out in practice. Nicholas Daniel, the beefiest-sounding oboist to appear on the scene since the great Maurice Bourgue, is one who does. Last night he not only shone in the bright ensemble of Beethoven's Second Symphony; he also scored a triumph with a tough new gift to him and the Britten Sinfonia, James MacMillan's latest teeming-with-life concerto.

If you were one of the world's top soloists but with a limited concerto stock - as woodwind players' tend to be - wouldn't you find it more rewarding to work as a principal in the orchestral ranks? That's the ideal, surely, but few carry it out in practice. Nicholas Daniel, the beefiest-sounding oboist to appear on the scene since the great Maurice Bourgue, is one who does. Last night he not only shone in the bright ensemble of Beethoven's Second Symphony; he also scored a triumph with a tough new gift to him and the Britten Sinfonia, James MacMillan's latest teeming-with-life concerto.

Daniel was back in the rank and file for Beethoven's Second Symphony, crowning the introduction and its more playful consequences like a bright child in a nursery

Share this article

Comments

I really enjoyed the MacMillan too. Second movement particularly. Nicholas Daniel went some fine shades of red running around that solo part!

Add comment

newsletter

Get a weekly digest of our critical highlights in your inbox each Thursday!

Simply enter your email address in the box below

View previous newsletters