A London Rattle

After the pandemic played havoc with plans for the 118-year-old London Symphony Orchestra to perform in Santa Barbara, not to mention scrapping well laid plans for Music Academy of the West fellows to perform with the U.K. musicians at their home in the Barbican, the two major institutions are back in action in a big way. Under longtime maestro Sir Simon Rattle the world-famous orchestra performed three sold-out programs at the Granada, two of which I was lucky enough to attend.

The first, co-presented with CAMA, featured “Le Corsaire” by Berlioz, “Symphony No.7 in C Major” by Sibelius, Bartok’s “The Miraculous Mandarin,” Ravel’s “La valse, poème chorégraphique pour orchestre,” and Hannah Kendall’s “The Spark Catchers.”

Sunday’s evening show, a community concert marking the Music Academy’s 75th anniversary season, paired 36 Keston MAX “All Stars,” winners of the competition over the past four years, playing works by Percy Grainger before concluding with Bruckner’s “Symphony No. 4, Romantic.” Rattling good performances both…