John
I heard parts of Martinu concert at channel 3 of italian national radio. I can't say anythig about the interpretation but I appreciated very much the inventivness of Martinu wich was a very interesting composer.

Paul Randall
Not since the lamented Dusty Springfield have we seen such a rigidly immobile mop of blonde hair as that sported by Ivo Kahanek. And some marvellous piano playing too; I'd love to hear more Martinu at the Proms - no, you can't say one piece will do for his whole huge output, he was a special composer. As was Prokofiev; hard to imagine how the piece must have seemed when premiered on a bleak day in January 1945, but it remains very special indeed; especially as played here.

Steve, London
The performance I attended last night was disappointing. The BBC SO’s playing was lack lustre under Jirí Belohlávek. He seemed incapable of hearing a good balance between instruments. Melodies were not brought forward. Counter melodies in the brass in the Prokofiev fifth symphony obscured the top line in places. Simple things like in the second movement a poorly articulated snare drum and odd notes sticking out the texture should have been sorted out by the conductor. Only in the third movement did the strings produce any sort of tone but the balance between strings and woodwind in the magical closing section was again poor. There was some good instrumental playing, particularly the clarinet in the last movement but this great tour de force left practically no impression. There was a lack of excitement and dynamic range which does not make me want to hear this orchestra again in a hurry. That was also the feeling of people I talked to after the concert.The Peter Grimes interludes lacked atmosphere from the start – unfortunately interrupted by some idiot arguing in the circle - he should have been thrown out by staff rather than allowed to ruin the performance. The final interlude had no clarity in the violins’ part and no feeling in the magical slow sections. The Martinu Piano Concerto No.4 was persuasively played by the pianist Ivo Kahanek. There are some interesting moments of orchestration (such as the end of the first movement) and some inventive piano figuration but also many banal thematic ideas - like those involving intervals alternating a couple of notes apart – and unimaginative chordal solo piano writing. My opinion from hearing the BBC SO again is that they could do with an exciting young conductor - from the many emerging in this country - to come and sort them out and inject a bit of life back into them. Maybe this would give them a new angle to market themselves as a more dynamic orchestra and to do themselves justice.