Barbican, London
An enjoyably varied programme took in Piazzolla, Samuel Barber and Queen with Suzie Collier conducting the Britten Sinfonia, but the musical fireworks were all courtesy of her son Jacob and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile
You sometimes wonder what orchestra members think when they’re accompanying big pop stars. Do these highly trained musicians, who’ve been studying their craft for decades, look on in faint contempt as someone clearly less skilled than them is in the limelight?
This is clearly not the case when members of the Britten Sinfonia watch tonight’s two star guests: polymath singer/pianist Jacob Collier and mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile. They look on in delighted awe as the two improvise together, egging each other on as they duel on various instruments. During a mashup of the Beatles and Bob Dylan, Collier and Thile lurch delightedly between rapturous free improvisation, ragtime piano and pitch-perfect country and western harmonies; they even manage to weave in an impromptu pastiche of a Bach fugue.
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