Classical Reviews
Classical CDs Weekly: Monteverdi, Vaughan Williams, Simon DesbruslaisSaturday, 21 February 2015
Read more... |
Von Otter, BBCSO, Oramo, BarbicanThursday, 19 February 2015
Hair-raising guaranteed or your money back: that might have been a publicity gambit, had there been one, for Sakari Oramo’s latest journey with the BBC Symphony Orchestra around a Nielsen symphony. That he knows the ropes to scale the granite cliff face of the Danish composer’s Fourth, “Inextinguishable”, Symphony was not in doubt (he gave a shattering performance with his own City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the 1999 Proms). Read more... |
Kožena, Royal, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rattle, RFHMonday, 16 February 2015
It’s all over: the final note of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s London Residency, for which many music-lovers bought tickets about a year ago, has risen into the ether, leaving most questions concerning Sir Simon Rattle’s future plans as yet unanswered. Read more... |
Philharmonic Octet Berlin, Queen Elizabeth HallSaturday, 14 February 2015
Even in a big orchestral concert, you’re bound to note Berlin Philharmonic principals as among the best instrumentalists in the world. I cited five in the central instalment of Simon Rattle’s Sibelius cycle on Wednesday. Of those, only viola-player Amihai Grosz figured in the Octet, joined by seven more players of peerless sophistication. Read more... |
Orpen, Françoise-Green Piano Duo, Aurora Orchestra, Kings PlaceSaturday, 14 February 2015
Teetering on the edge of a Steve Reich weekend, Friday’s concert in the Minimalism Unwrapped series at Kings Place gave us a very mixed grill called “Pulses: Steve Reich and his Influences”. In the process it didn’t offer all that much of the concert’s organisers, the Aurora Orchestra – two flutes, two clarinets, two vibraphones, two pianos, two violins and cellos, and we were done. Still, Reich has never been at his best writing for conventional orchestral forces. Read more... |
Becker, RLPO, Ang, Liverpool Philharmonic HallSaturday, 14 February 2015
While there is, of course, safety in numbers, but five premieres on four continents is, perhaps, a little novel. Tan Dun’s new Concerto for Double-Bass, subtitled Wolf Totem, is a co-commission by five orchestras: the Royal Concertgebouw, St Louis Symphony, the Taiwan Philharmonic, the Tasmanian Symphony and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.The principal bass player in each orchestra is to be soloist and the piece received its world première last month in Amsterdam. Read more... |
Sibelius Cycle 3, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rattle, BarbicanFriday, 13 February 2015
The Seventh Symphony was by some way the most scrappy and inaccurate of the performances in the Sibelius cycle given at the Barbican by, it must be said again, the world’s best orchestra. The oboes crunched a chord that fairly made you wince. A few bars later, the famous strings were all over the place. Read more... |
Alexander Ivashkin Memorial Concert, Queen Elizabeth HallFriday, 13 February 2015
A memorial concert to a busy man. Alexander Ivashkin, who died last January, was a cellist, a scholar, a teacher, an authority on Russian music, and much else besides. This evening’s concert faced up to the daunting challenge of commemorating the many diverse aspects of Ivashkin’s career. The results were predictably wide-ranging, yet always coherent, and an impressive focus was brought to this mixed but never eclectic programme. Read more... |
Hannigan, Uchida, Philharmonia, Salonen, Royal Festival HallFriday, 13 February 2015
While the Berlin Philharmonic's progress through London with Simon Rattle has grabbed the column inches away from the rest of the capital's classical music offerings this week, a delightful mostly Ravel programme from the Philharmonia should not be passed over. Read more... |
Sibelius Cycle 2, Kavakos, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rattle, BarbicanThursday, 12 February 2015
Bass lines were Edward Seckerson’s starting point yesterday in welcoming the Berlin Philharmonic Sibelius cycle to London, and none strikes more terror from the depths than the subterranean growl that launches the most selectively-scored symphony of the 20th Century, the Fourth. Read more... |
Pages
inside classical music
latest in today
theartsdesk Q&A: Eddie Marsan and the American Revolutio...
He’s not the kind of actor who has paparazzi following him...
DVD/Blu-ray: Billy Connolly - Big Banana Feet
The most striking things about the 1976 documentary (restored and re-released by the BFI) is just how polite Billy Connolly comes across as. Not...
The Great Escape Festival 2024, Brighton review - 12 hours o...
If the weather’s good TGE Beach is a grand start to a day. As it sounds, it’s a purpose-built seafront space to the east of central...
Rebus, BBC One review - revival of Ian Rankin's Scottis...
The previous incarnation of Ian Rankin’s Scottish detective on ITV starred, in their contrasting styles, John Hannah and Ken Stott. For this ...
Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, Sousa, St Martin-in...
Better (much better, indeed) late than never. The Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique should have given their cycle of Beethoven symphonies at...
Die Zauberflöte, Glyndebourne review - cornucopia of visual...
Five years after it first clattered onto the ...
Hough, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a...
It’s probably a bit early to be getting misty-eyed about the approaching end of Sir Mark Elder’s time as music director of the Hallé, but the...
Clinton Baptiste, Touring review - spoof clairvoyant on grea...
Clinton Baptiste – clairvoyant, medium and psychic – first appeared briefly as a character in Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights on Channel 4....
Music Reissues Weekly: Andwella - To Dream
Original pressings of Love And Poetry sell for up to £2,800. Copies of the August 1969 debut album by Andwellas Dream can sometimes also...
Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Ma...
There’s a sense of cheerful abandon about Manchester Camerata’s ...