Rian Evans, The Guardian, 24th September 2014
★★★★
“Works by Janáček and his Czech compatriot Bohuslav Martinů framed this concert given by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Janáček’s programmatic symphony poem Taras Bulba tells the grisly tale of the eponymous leader of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and under the baton of Michael Francis, the picture of Janáček as a force of nature emerged just as strongly as that of Bulba.
Francis’s reputation as a conductor initially rested on his stepping into the breach more than once, most notably taking over concerts from Valery Gergiev and John Adams. But his briskly methodical style has its own virtues, as this performance showed. From the blood and guts of the Janáček to the bold, gutsy writing of Martinů’s Sixth Symphony, Francis brought a dynamic drive to the proceedings, recognising both the influence of the older composer and the difference of emotional tone implicit in Martinů’s subtitle, Fantaisies Symphoniques. Martinů was also the link with Albert Roussel, the latter his teacher in Paris in the 1920s, and represented here by his Concert for Small Orchestra, sometimes acid of harmony and austere of orchestral texture but with an irresistible balletic spring…”
