Classical Reviews
Prom 4: CBSO, NelsonsMonday, 20 July 2015
This Prom was the final concert of Andris Nelsons's remarkable seven-year spell as principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Their Prom showed the astonishing level of responsiveness and flexibility which he and they have achieved together, over the course of more than 300 concerts. Read more...
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Prom 1: Vogt, Maltman, BBCSO, OramoSaturday, 18 July 2015
So it begins. Thousands of expectant audience members in a sweltering Albert Hall – heave ho! – riotous applause for the leader as he tunes the orchestra. A few more visits and all this will seem normal again, but it’s a culture shock to be thrown straight back in on the first night. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Kit Downes, The Nash Ensemble, John PotterSaturday, 18 July 2015
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theartsdesk at the East Neuk Festival: Church strings, garden hornsMonday, 13 July 2015
A peninsular spirit of place and the greatest of instrumentalists drew me a second time to the eastern nook (hence the “Neuk”) of Fife. But could a second report for theartsdesk be justified – wasn’t the premise the same for the 11th East Neuk Festival as it had been at the 10th? Not quite. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Medtner, Sibelius, TchaikovskySaturday, 11 July 2015
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Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, Cadogan HallFriday, 10 July 2015
2015 is the "Year of Mexico in the United Kingdom" which is why we’ ve got an exhibition on the Mayas in Liverpool, masked wrestlers Luche Libre at the Albert Hall and the country’ s leading symphony orchestra on a debut UK tour. The Mexico Philharmonic was founded at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1936 and is the oldest symphony orchestra in the country. Read more... |
Zimerman, LSO, Rattle, BarbicanFriday, 03 July 2015
Over the past decade Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle have created and evolved a performing idea of Brahms’s D minor piano concerto which is still remarkable for its considered weight and grimly imposing grandeur, Michelangelo’s Mosè in music. Read more... |
NYCC, NYJO, Southwark CathedralFriday, 03 July 2015
Cleopatra in her barge gliding down the nave of Southwark Cathedral? Only figuratively, in the hypnotic “Half the Fun” movement of Duke Ellington’s constantly surprising Shakespeare compendium Such Sweet Thunder. Still, it wouldn’t be that much stranger than the combination of a jazz orchestra and a chamber choir – so superlative as not to need the “youth” in their names observed – celebrating Shakespeare in his local place of worship. Read more... |
Max Raabe, Wigmore HallWednesday, 24 June 2015
Fair exchange? German humour, perhaps? Read more... |
Continuum Ensemble, Headlam, Kings PlaceSunday, 21 June 2015
Zeitoper, single scene micro-opera for modern times, enjoyed a brief vogue in the Weimar era, but disappeared as fast the Republic itself. This programme from the Continuum Ensemble resurrected four examples, all from the years 1927-28, to offer a snapshot of Germany’s quickly evolving music theatre scene between the wars. The works, by Hindemith, Ernst Toch and Kurt Weill, are short, with little narrative, and even less musical subtlety. Read more... |
Kit Downes: Tricko Kit Downes (piano, organ), Lucy Railton (cello) (Coup Perdu)
Medtner: Piano Sonatas Alessandro Taverna (Somm)Pages
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