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Barbican, LondonIn Bartók and Chausson, violinist Isabelle Faust was elegant and expressive, and conductor Duncan Ward brought colour and focus to orchestral showpieces by Debussy and JanáčekConcerts rarely begin with a concerto. But the London Symphony Orchestra’s programme with conductor Duncan Ward opened with the unaccompanied silvery sound of soloist Isabelle Faust’s violin, the “Sleeping Beauty” Stradivarius, as she elegantly unfolded the first of the melodies that thread through the opening movement of Bartók’s First Violin Concerto, progressively joined by the strings.Faust’s performance, overlooking nothing and inimitably characterising every expressive morsel, but resisting every temptation for flashy indulgence even in the more animated second movement, was wonderfully accomplished. It was hard to imagine a better, more truthful performance of this rather curious bipartite concerto, which was completed in 1908 but only performed for the first time in 1958, 13 years after Bartók’s death. And when Faust returned after the interval to play one of the understated masterpieces of late 19th-century French music, Ernest Chausson’s Poème, there was that same, infinitely supple control of every phrase with just the occasional touch of portamento, as her violin soared over the orchestral cushions that Ward organised so sympathetically around her. Continue reading...