Pekka Kuusisto: Willows album review – luminous, inventive and penetrating

Norwegian Chamber Orchestra/Kuusisto/Amidon (Platoon) The Finnish violinist-conductor strips back The Lark Ascending to revelatory effect in an album that moves from searing grief to radiant, folk-infused transcendence with Sam Amidon ‘We aren’t deleting notes,” says Pekka Kuusisto, “but deleting ketchup.” The Finnish conductor and violinist is talking about Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, a work of such innate Britishness that it regularly tops UK classical music popularity polls...

By Clive Paget