Korngold & Prokofiev, CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 25 February 2026 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

Photo credit: Andrew-Fox

Korngold & Prokofiev

CBSO, Symphony Hall, Birmingham | 25 February 2026

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Review by David Gray & Paul Gray

“A well programmed and impressive performance of a glamourous concerto and an epic symphony.”

Iman Habibi – Zhiân

Korngold – Violin Concerto

Prokofiev – Symphony No 5

Iranian composer, Iman Habibi’s ‘Zhiân’ is a piece that lives up to the scale and scope of its concept. The title, according to the programme notes, translates as ‘life’ in Kurdish, and ‘indignant’ or ‘formidable’ in Persian. The work was inspired the 2022 protests in Iran.

It has a sweeping, epic feel and covers a lot of expressive ground during its relatively short running time. Dark menacing passages surge and build to suddenly erupt into moments of utterly radiant luminescence. Its structural rhythm is beautifully paced creating a real sense of storytelling. The composer’s command of orchestral colour is impressive.

The CBSO players performed with commitment and intensity while conductor, Tianyi Lu, drove through the drama to deliver a totally convincing reading.

Maybe we don’t talk quite enough about ‘frocks’ on the concert platform?! Perhaps we should, particularly when they are clearly as deliberately chosen as violinist, Carolin Widmann’s was for her performance of Korngold’s delicious Violin Concerto.

Well known for his film scores, Korngold’s music is shot through with glossy Hollywood glamour. Widmann’s tightly pleated, glittery full-length number channelled a 1940s golden age ‘screen siren’. Widmann’s performance was imbued with lashings of cinematic passion and power.

This concerto is a fiendishly virtuosic work. Widmann was completely on top of its technical demands while also managing to play with a massive range of colour and plenty of subtle nuance. The band provided lush support for her expansively lyrical interpretation of the opening movement. Soloist and orchestra alike had lots of fun with the boisterous Finale.

Written a year before the Korngold, Prokofiev’s monumental 5th Symphony comes from a very different place, geographically and aesthetically. This is a work full of contrast: by turns lyrical and spikey; menacing and hopeful; sombre and joyful. The composer clearly wanted it to say something significant. Lu and the CBSO delivered on this intention with an emotionally charged and eloquent performance. Lu is an energised yet precise presence on the podium, and the orchestra responded to her approach to create an impressively integrated and persuasive reading of this magnificent symphony. All-in-all this concert was simply wonderful.

Tianyi Lu – Conductor

Carolin Widmann – Violin                                                                                                                                                    CBSO