The Stravinsky Connection
Brighton Philharmonic Orchestra
Conductor: Joanna MacGregor
Piano: Milda Daunoraite
Brighton Dome
Sunday 11 October 2026
It is a good idea to stage a concert which foregrounds Brighton Philharmonic’s fine wind and brass players, 24 of them for the opener. Sensibly from a stage management point of view, the piano was already in position.
Stravinsky’s nine-minute Symphonies of Wind Instruments (1920) is an interestingly instrumented piece with a checkered history. It wasn’t received well at its London premiere, and the composer revised it 27 years later. Here it was played with panache and some colourful flute work.
His Concerto for Piano and Wind Instruments (1924) then sparkled in the hands of Milda Daunoraite, a young Latvian who is still studying at Royal Academy of Music and is very evidently going places fast. It’s a challenging piece which was delivered with panache especially in the third movement which featured some bravura playing thought the continual mood changes. I also liked the way she leaned on the lyricism in the Largo with respectful tenderness. Joanna MacGregor meanwhile, held the reins with her usual friendly authority so that the whole thing cohered. I shall never know, however, how Daunoraite manages to control four pedals (she uses a Bluetooth pedal to turn her digital music) wearing killer heels: a feat I admired almost as much as I did her virtuosity.
All this, however, was really just the prelude to what was, for me, definitely the real meat of this concert.
I had looked forward to hearing Mozart’s Gran Partita live for weeks because, despite its ubiquity on radio (Sarah Walker, for example played the adagio on Radio 3 as I drove to Brighton on the morning of the concert) and the recordings many of us have, it doesn’t seem to be performed live much. So I expect the opportunity to play this wonderful serenade (seven movements including two minuets and four trios!) is also a treat for the thirteen wind players, plus double bass, to get their teeth into.
Highlights of this fine performance included the elegance of the opening Largo and, in the scond movement, the lovely clarinet runs with the cor anglais (Clare Hoskins) playing a running accompaniment in what really is a trio, rather than a quasi-trio. In the fourth movement MacGregor stressed the operatic minor chords and I loved the delicate rubato in the second trio. The romance came with fabulous bassoon playing from Jonathan Price and when it got to the Theme and Variations in the sixth movement we got a lively, witty account and intimate and some fine double bass playing from Stephen Warner, The rondo was played at top speed – plenty of “molto” with a delightfully played cor anglais melody and a resounding conclusion.
For me though it was the adagio which really touched the heart so that I had to blink away the tears. It’s the intricate and intimate way Mozart blends all those winding parts and, of course, MacGregor ensured that we heard – really heard – every nuance and note.
I walked away from the Dome with my head rattling counterpointed melodies and harmonies. Like millions before me, I was also muttering to myself, “That man was a remarkable genius” except that I used a much stronger adjective. Bravo Wolfgang and bravo BPO.
