Ludovico Einaudi, Koncerthuset, Copenhagen, 2nd November 2013

You may not recognise the name Ludovico Einaudi, but the chances are you will recognise his music. Since I first discovered him over 10 years ago his music has been used for numerous TV adverts and films (including The Intouchables a film I watched earlier this year and very funny although knowing the subject matter you wouldn't expect it to be). When I first started listening to his music his popularity was spreading in the UK thanks largely to Classic FM. He is now even more well known and current tours have seen him play throughout Europe and North America.

I was lucky enough to see him perform in Ravello just over a year ago. Ravello was an open-air concert at the Villa Rufolo with the trumpeter Paolo Fresu also playing. The night was so magical that part of me was reluctant to even see him again because it just wouldn't be able to live up to Ravello (http://vimeo.com/47014662 if you watch carefully you can see us in the audience). 

So how did Copenhagen fair? While there was no full moon (well there may have been outside but it was so cloudy you'd never know) or sea view, Copenhagen's Koncerthuset is a pretty impressive auditorium. Opened in 2009 and seating 1800 people (almost completely full for Einaudi) it is the most expensive concert hall ever built. The interior of the main concert hall is visually appealing, but clearly has also had a lot of technical input to achieve great acoustics. 

The concert started with Einaudi and his orchestra playing music from his latest album "In a time lapse". There were a few catchy tunes and it certainly works with the orchestra (essentially strings and percussion). After about an hour (but interestingly without an interval-is this a cultural thing?) the orchestra left him to perform a few of his best known songs on his own. The orchestra was then gradually reintroduced building up to a powerful performance of "Divenire". They returned to the stage after a well-deserved standing ovation to perform Eden Roc (one of the first Einaudi songs I ever heard) again making great use of the orchestra.