An interview with

Maxine Kwok

What do you recall about the night of performing the Sixth?

It was very overwhelming, because it was the last time we were on stage together as an orchestra. We suspected we were going to have to have a month off; no one imagined it would be this amount of time. Obviously programmes are worked out far in advance, but it all felt so poignant and perfect. Every piece that night ended so quietly, which you don’t usually get in a concert, and I think it affected the way we played.

Is it a better experience for musicians to record live?

You might normally have to patch a couple of bars here and there, because of some cough they couldn’t muffle in postproduction, but I think what has always been at the forefront of the idea of the LSO Live label is that we capture this feeling of the concert experience. We’ve all done recordings in a studio where it almost ceases to become music, because you’re taking it apart to such a level. How much of the music’s impact comes from the conductor? Antonio Pappano never conducts anything by half. Honestly, I could really dislike a piece of music, but the moment he draws you into his world you cannot help but be convinced. He’s a conductor with a huge amount of energy and charisma on stage, and he really gives it so much that it’s impossible not to be pulled along by this huge wave of energy and music-making. His enthusiasm is very contagious and as a conductor that is really worth its weight in gold.

Maxine Kwok is a first violinist with the London Symphony Orchestra