# LPO/Gardner review – Mark Simpson’s piano concerto leaves its audience panting

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/lpo-gardner-review-mark-simpsons-piano-concerto-leaves-its-audience-panting/
- Published: 2026-10-27T14:55:05+00:00
- Updated: 2026-10-27T15:18:05+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2026/oct/27/lpo-gardner-review-mark-simpson-piano-concerto-tamara-stefanovich
- Topics: Culture, Entertainment, Music

## Key points

- Mark Simpson’s new concerto premiered in London.
- Tamara Stefanovich tackled its relentless, high-energy demands.
- The reviewer found *The Firebird* lacking in colour and precision.

## Summary

The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner, gave the world premiere of Mark Simpson’s Piano Concerto at the Royal Festival Hall, with Tamara Stefanovich as soloist. The review describes a forceful, demanding work that sustains high energy for around half an hour and leaves the audience “panting”.

Simpson’s concerto pairs virtuosic piano writing with dense orchestral sound, at times making the soloist hard to hear before the piano breaks through in a scherzo with tuned percussion. The finale adds a brief introspective strain before returning to extreme registers and athletic demands; Stefanovich met them assertively, while the orchestra mostly kept up. The programme also included Dorothy Howell’s *Lamia* and Stravinsky’s *The Firebird*, whose performance the reviewer found short on tension, precision and colour.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.