This concert by the London Symphony Orchestra had the appearance of a dual celebratory function, marking as it did both the centenary of Pierre Boulez, one of the towering figures of music in the last century, and the 70th birthday of the evening’s conductor, Simon Rattle.
If Rattle’s programme choices made it a decidedly muted affair, are we to draw the conclusion he doesn’t find reaching the biblical threescore years and ten milestone a cause for merriment?
