Concert review: Sheku Kanneh-Mason (cello) Sinfonia of London/John Wilson

Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto doesn’t get out as much as his first, which is a shame, as Sheku Kanneh-Mason with the Sinfonia of London under John Wilson demonstrated in this fine performance at the Barbican. Kanneh-Mason was smooth and gentle at the opening: his later double-stoppings, not easy, were expressive and beautifully played with the harp (only one, despite Shostakovich calling for two, though admittedly using them in unison). He launched into his semiquaver runs with energy and ease of execution, and showed magisterial command in the cadenza, with more fiendish double-stopping.

Kanneh-Mason’s staccato playing in the second-movement Allegretto was a dry as one could wish for, and he displayed great rhythmic agility. He was occasionally a little overpowered by the horns before they moved into their splendid fanfares in the third movement, but he more than got his own back in the muscular cadenza, producing crisp dialogues with the percussion and terrific hocketing with the orchestra.

The concert opened with Kenneth Hesketh’s Pattersongs, a comical work with plenty of hard percussion, asymmetrical rhythms and slide-away brass. It ended with an extraordinary performance of Rachmaninoff’s First Symphony, replete with terrifying dramatic bursts and theatrical vigour.

TIM HOMFRAY