Trish Crawford, Toronto Star, 13th May 2014
“Michael Francis is chomping at the bit to take on Felix Mendelssohn’s famous Symphony No. 3, a piece of music that really gives an orchestra a workout, the British conductor says…”
Pat O’Kelly, Irish Independent, 7th April 2014
“Following several weeks’ lull, the latest in the RTÉ NSO’s ‘Subscription Season’ finds the ensemble in top form under re-visiting English conductor Michael Francis.
Increasingly well respected on both sides of the Atlantic, his programme spotlights Dvořák’s 7th Symphony. The Brahms-like majesty of its opening Allegro is lightened by […]
Derek Ho, ResMusica, 20th March 2014
“…From the opening timpani strikes it was immediately clear that this music is Francis’ passion. There were many highlights, from the clumsy woodwinds in the Britten to the hushed strings and ominous trumpets in the Vaughan Williams. This concert was a model of intelligent programming, although some might find […]
Hannu-Ilari Lamila, Helsingin Sanomat, 16th March 2014
“Young, skilled and sympathetic British conductor Michael Francis ensured that the atmosphere was authentically English. It is often down to small detail whether, for example, Walton and Vaughan Williams’ works reveal their best qualities…
Britten composed his work Sinfonia da Requiem in 1940 in memory of his parents. It […]
Geoffrey Newman, Seen and Heard International, 14th March 2014
“…Janacek’s six Lachian Dances (1890) are in many ways just a Moravian variant of Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances, balancing brisk, rustic rhythms with quieter, more pastoral moods. Michael Francis immediately showed a strong feel for the structural lines of these pieces, often coaxing the violins into an […]
Paul Driver, Sunday Times, 16th February 2014
“…[Michael Francis’] easily authoritative readings of Dvorak’s Violin Concerto…and New World Symphony provided a frame of familiarity for seldom-heard works by the somewhat neglected Polish composer…Andrzej Panufnik, whose centenary year this is.
His Sinfonia Sacra (1966) gave the concert a spectacular beginning. The first of its tightly written movements — three […]
Neil Fisher, The Times, 7th February 2014
★★★★
“…Hearing two of his most skilfully constructed works, vividly performed by the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Michael Francis, afresh was something of a revelation. Sinfonia Sacra, from 1966, is a hymnlike vision to Poland’s Catholic faith, but its ecstatic song only arrives after three fragmentary […]
Penny Homer, Bachtrack, 7th February 2014
★★★
“…The pairing of Dvořák and Panufnik is perhaps explained by their nationalism, although both composers framed it in different ways. Dvorak’s Ninth Symphony is subtitled “From the New World”, as if looking across to his Czech homeland from New York. It is only really in the second movement that […]
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 6th February 2014
★★★★
“Sinfonia Sacra, with its ricocheting percussion, assertive brass and ritual string chants, seethed with tension…
Among the most remarkable and original of Panufnik’s scores, [Lullaby] was exquisitely done – a perfect performance.”
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 6th February 2014
★★★★
“…The Sinfonia Sacra, probably his best-known work, is typically clear-headed and direct. Four solo trumpets at the corners of the stage announce the start with a volley of fanfares. A medieval Polish chant inspires music of hallowed simplicity, interrupted by a short, sharp movement of violent rhythmic energy, […]
