David Raymond, Rochester City Newspaper, 30th May 2014
“But the most memorable portions of [Walton’s ‘Suite from Henry V’]…were delicately paced by Michael Francis and exquisitely played by the RPO strings, but the full orchestra also gave Walton’s festive moments the snazziness they require — the “Agincourt Song” pealing out in the brass near the end of the work almost made me feel British…
Familiar it is, but if performed with energy, virtuosity, and a sense of adventure, “The Planets” can still be thrilling. And Thursday night’s RPO performance was indeed pretty thrilling. Michael Francis brought out every one of the myriad moods and orchestral colors in this suite, and had some interesting interpretive ideas of his own, starting with a ferocious ‘Mars, The Bringer of War.’…
The orchestra sounded sensational at each planetary stop: whether in the rapid-fire gossamer woodwind writing of “Mercury” (definitely a “winged messenger” in this performance), the hearty string and brass writing of the ‘great tune’ in ‘Jupiter,’ or the rackety, deliberately noisy scoring of ‘Uranus’ — which was as intriguingly unsettling and impersonal as Mars.”
