sat 19/07/2025

Classical Music reviews, news & interviews

BBC Proms: First Night, Batiashvili, BBCSO, Oramo review - glorious Vaughan Williams

Bernard Hughes

The auditorium and arena were packed – and the stage even more so, bursting at the seams with players and singers: the perfect set-up for a First Night of the Proms. This is traditionally an opportunity to programme a large-scale choral work, and last night that was Vaughan Williams’s seldom heard Sancta Civitas.

Interview: Quinteto Astor Piazzolla on playing in London and why Mick Jagger's a fan

Rachel Halliburton

“I still can’t believe that some pseudo-critics continue to accuse me of having murdered tango,” Astor Piazzolla once declared. “They have it backward. They should look at me as the saviour of tango. I performed plastic surgery on it.”

theartsdesk at the Ravenna Festival 2025 -...

David Nice

Anyone seeking local genius in an international festival should look no further than the annual Ravenna concerts from Riccardo Muti – Neapolitan by...

Classical CDs: Bells, birdsong and braggadocio

Graham Rickson

 Thomas Adès, Oliver Leith, William Marsey: Shanty, Aquifer et al Hallé Orchestra/Thomas Adès (Hallé)This album on the Hallé’s own...

Siglo de Oro, Wigmore Hall review - electronic...

Bernard Hughes

Siglo de Oro are a vocal ensemble who specialise in older music – and especially neglected older music – but they have also always programmed...

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Alfred Brendel 1931-2025 - a personal tribute

Mark Kidel

A master of feeling and intellect

Aldeburgh Festival, Weekend 2 review - nine premieres, three young ensembles - and Allan Clayton

David Nice

A solstice sunrise swim crowned the best of times at this phoenix of a festival

Schubertiade 3 at the Ragged Music Festival, Mile End review - five great musicians keep spirits soaring

David Nice

Kolesnikov, Tsoy, Leonskaja, Ibragimova and Hecker in spellbinding performances

Immersive Night Music Show, Makita, Londinium Ensemble, World Heart Beat Embassy Gardens - multimedia musings on a midsummer night

Rachel Halliburton

This intriguing musical/visual collaboration was best when it was boldest

RNCM International Diploma Artists, BBC Philharmonic, MediaCity, Salford review - spotting stars of tomorrow

Robert Beale

Cream of the graduate crop from Manchester's Music College show what they can do

Classical CDs: Bells, whistles and bowing techniques

Graham Rickson

A great pianist's early recordings boxed up, plus classical string quartets, French piano trios and a big American symphony

Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists, Suzuki, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - the perfect temperature for Bach

Boyd Tonkin

A dream cantata date for Japanese maestro and local supergroup

Aldeburgh Festival, Weekend 1 review - dance to the music of time

Boyd Tonkin

From Chekhovian opera to supernatural ballads, past passions return to life by the sea

Dandy, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a destination attained

Robert Beale

A powerful experience endorses Storgårds’ continued relationship with the orchestra

Hespèrion XXI, Savall, QEH review - an evening filled with laughter and light

Rachel Halliburton

An exhilarating exploration of innovation in 16th and 17th century repertoire

theartsdesk at the Dublin International Chamber Music Festival - musical revelations, nature beyond

David Nice

Artistic director Ciara Higgins’ programming ensures plenty of surprises

Müller-Schott, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - spectacular Shostakovich to end the season

Simon Thompson

Brilliant orchestral results, while the cellist walks a tightrope in the Second Cello Concerto

Classical CDs: Cannons, culverts and mooching cattle

Graham Rickson

Box sets celebrating a pair of conductors, plus baroque vocal music and a beguiling bassoon anthology

Marwood, Crabb, Wigmore Hall review - tangos, laments and an ascending lark

Bernard Hughes

Accordion virtuoso’s brilliant arrangements showcase the possibilities of the instrument

Dennis, RSNO, Dunedin Consort, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - potted Ring and deep dive into history

Miranda Heggie

Ancient Scottish musical traditions explored through the lens of today, and a short teaser for some of opera's greatest moments

Batiashvili, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - French and Polish narcotics

David Nice

Szymanowski’s fantasy more vague than Berlioz’s, but both light up the hall

Owen, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - more Mozart made in Manchester

Robert Beale

Another breath of fresh air in the chamber orchestra’s approach to the classics

Josefowicz, LSO, Mälkki, Barbican review - two old favourites and one new one

Bernard Hughes

Julia Perry well worth her place alongside Stravinsky and Bartók

Classical CDs: Jelly Babies, porridge and kazoos

Graham Rickson

German art songs, French piano concertos and entertaining contemporary music

Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - too big a splash in complete Ravel

David Nice

Panache but little inner serenity in a risky three-part marathon

Karim Said, Leighton House review - adventures from Byrd to Schoenberg

David Nice

The Jordanian pianist presents a magic carpet of dizzyingly contrasting styles

Stile Antico, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious birthday celebration

Bernard Hughes

Early music group passes a milestone still at the top of its game

Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - premiere of new Huw Watkins work

Robert Beale

Craftsmanship and appeal in this 'Concerto for Orchestra' - and game-playing with genre

First Person: young cellist Zlatomir Fung on operatic fantasies old and new

Zlatomir Fung

Fresh takes on Janáček's 'Jenůfa' and Bizet's 'Carmen' are on the menu

Footnote: a brief history of classical music in Britain

London has more world-famous symphony orchestras than any other city in the world, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra vying with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Opera House Orchestra, crack "period", chamber and contemporary orchestras. The bursting schedules of concerts at the Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre and South Bank Centre, and the strength of music in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Cardiff, among other cities, show a depth and internationalism reflecting the development of the British classical tradition as European, but with specific slants of its own.

brittenWhile Renaissance monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I took a lively interest in musical entertainment, this did not prevent outstanding English composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd developing the use of massed choral voices to stirring effect. Arguably the vocal tradition became British music's glory, boosted by the arrival of Handel as a London resident in 1710. For the next 35 years he generated booms in opera, choral and instrumental playing, and London attracted a wealth of major European composers, Mozart, Chopin and Mahler among them.

The Victorian era saw a proliferation of classical music organisations, beginning with the Philharmonic Society, 1813, and the Royal Academy of Music, 1822, both keenly promoting Beethoven's music. The Royal Albert Hall and the Queen's Hall were key new concert halls, and Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh established major orchestras. Edward Elgar was chief of a raft of English late-Victorian composers; a boom-time which saw the Proms launched in 1895 by Sir Henry Wood, and a rapid increase in conservatoires and orchestras. The "pastoral" English classical style arose, typified by Vaughan Williams, and the new BBC took over the Proms in 1931, founding its own broadcasting orchestra and classical radio station (now Radio 3).

England at last produced a world giant in Benjamin Britten (pictured above), whose protean range spearheaded the postwar establishment of national arts institutions, resulting notably in English National Opera, the Royal Opera and the Aldeburgh Festival. The Arts Desk writers provide a uniquely rich coverage of classical concerts, with overnight reviews and indepth interviews with major performers and composers, from Britain and abroad. Writers include Igor Toronyi-Lalic, David Nice, Edward Seckerson, Alexandra Coghlan, Graham Rickson, Stephen Walsh and Ismene Brown

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