THE VENUS BLAZING TOUR

Deirdre Gribbin's new violin concerto, Venus Blazing, is less a terrestrial concert than an interplanetary event. It is staged in the stunning Baroque church of All Saints, whose domed apse is transformed into a temporary planetarium.

Gribbin, an inventive Northern Irish composer, exerts an almost Wagnerian degree of attention to every aspect of the performance. She has even designed the orchestra's glow-in-the-dark costumes. Director Lou Stein has overseen the visuals and Bruce Springsteen's lighting designer, Jeff Ravitz, has been hired to bathe everything in red and mauve.

This novelty could make it easy not to notice the music, but Venus Blazing turns out to be an impressively crafted 40-minute piece that steadily builds in momentum under the fine Finnish conductor Susanna Malkki.

The Guardian

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