A festive start, to be sure....
Two of this writer’s favourite Frenchmen – Chabrier and Poulenc – provided the best form of détente with our closest European relations. Chabrier’s Ode a la musique, a Prom premiere (better 120 years late than never), drenched us in sweet harmonies of a peculiarly French persuasion while the Labeque Sisters, kittenish Katia and demure Marielle, attended to the deliciously subversive nature of Poulenc’s Concerto in D for Two Pianos romping between skittish music hall burlesque and twilit reverie with idiomatic aplomb. The straight-faced Mozart parody of the Larghetto was beautifully weighed in favour of affection rather than fun.

Edward Seckerson