SUFJAN STEVENS, BRYCE DESSNER AND NICO MUHLY (London Barbican, 09/04/12)
 

Three doyens of the independent music scene joined forces to perform a series of compositions inspired by the Solar System - with varying degrees of success. We were warned before the show started that this was a “work in progress” and it shows; “The Sun” sounded like an unfinished sketch rather than a meaningful part of proceedings, and a couple of other planets suffered from repetitive or aimless structures. That said, when “Planetarium” was good, it was very, very good, the baroque and ostentatious Jupiter and brassy cinematics of Mercury being particular highlights. Not a patch of Sufjan’s live shows last year, but an interesting and worthwhile experiment all the same.

(Photo: John Gleeson)