We saw Ades performing solo at the Wigmore Hall in London not long ago, and felt we could not pass on another opportunity to see him live. This time we would hear him conducting one of his compositions as well as Sibelius Symphony No 5 and a work by the the Danish composer Per Nørgård.
The French pianist Betrand Chanayou receiving billing alongside the LSO. His was an important and maybe difficult role in Ades’s “In Seven Days”. This is was not exactly a piano work, but occasionally that instrument is was required to come to the fore.
Both pieces in the first half were full of interest and easy to listen to. It was not possible, though, to separate out the Seven individual Days of the Ades piece. He chose to play the sections continuously. For the audience finding this structure would have been helpful.
