During the second week of January, the Romanian Athenaeum does not only propose a mere bilboard of the season, with its artistic significances related to the value of music, to the meeting with the occupant of the conductor's podium- the Bulgarian young and dynamic orchestra director, Martin Panteleev - or the pianist Horia Mihail. The programme aims to celebrate two of the anniversary reference points of the year 2013: the centenary of Witold Lutosławski's birth and Giuseppe Verdi's bicentennial.

Under the baton of Martin Panteleev, Witold Lutosławski's Little Suite for Orchestra enjoyed a very interesting and attractive performance at the music stand of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic. The sound of string parts was rich and robust. It is true that we may have liked more effulgence from the woodwind instrumentalists. Energetic, very dynamic, colourful, often opting for very obvious contrasts - maybe a little too much - that's how this musical partiture vibrated yesterday evening (Thursday, 10^th January, 2013) at the Romanian Athenaeum. Considering that the concert is being repeated today, everything will probably cling together much better and the grandeur will be much more natural.

The same could be said about Witold Lutosławski's Variazioni after Paganini,

where, generally, the pianist Horia Mihail succesfully collaborated with the conductor, but which will probably turn more artless, natural and spontaneous tonight. I appreciated Horia Mihail's virtuosity, the brightness of his playing style, the nerve and the extraordinary rigour he put into the interpretation of this short partiture, with a spectacular impact on the public.

Giuseppe Verdi's sacred pieces, played by the Philharmonic Choir, trained by Iosif Ion Prunner, followed after the break: monumentality, colour, expressive warmth, maybe some tempos a little too slow at a certain point, but, however, these Verdian partitures were piously interpreted. Rigourosity has paved the way for this baton of which we would like to hear more in the future.