thu 10/04/2025

theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews

Theartsdesk
Wednesday, 01 October 2025
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.It followed some hectic and intensive months when a disparate and eclectic...
David Nice
Thursday, 10 April 2025
Tired after a hard day at the office? You might think you need a Classic FM-style warm bath, but the blast of Prokofiev’s Second Symphony, one of the noisiest in the repertoire,...
Mark Kidel
Thursday, 10 April 2025
With a sound that's instantly recognisable, Justin Vernon – known as Bon Iver - continues to astonish. Purveyor of wonder, sculptor of enchanting sounds, he treads a miraculous...
Guy Oddy
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes may have been steering the good ship Primal Scream for some 40 years but, on the evidence of this week’s visit to Birmingham, they are in no way...
Thomas H Green
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
VINYL OF THE MONTHRattle Encircle (Upset! The Rhythm)Rattle are an unusual band. Consisting of Nottingham duo Katharine Eira Brown and Theresa Wrigley, their set-up is two drum...
Kieron Tyler
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Langenu are a black metal band. On stage at Estonia’s Tallinn Music Week, they are fearsome. Blood-vessel-burstingly intense. Tempering their force with twists into progressive,...
Veronica Lee
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
The title of Marcus Brigstocke’s latest show, Vitruvian Mango, is, like the man himself, rather clever. He appears on stage...
John Carvill
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Patrick McGilligan’s biography of Woody Allen weighs in at an eye-popping 800 pages, yet he waits only for the fourth...
Ibi Keita
Wednesday, 09 April 2025
Black Country, New Road’s Forever Howlong is an ambitious reinvention that both captivates and, at times, frustrates....
Stephen Walsh
Tuesday, 08 April 2025
Emotions run high at WNO these days. When the company’s co-directors, Sarah Crabtree and Adele Thomas, feel impelled to take...
Liz Thomson
Tuesday, 08 April 2025
I can’t hear Joan Armatrading without being instantly transported back to Liverpool, and my student digs just around the...
David Nice
Monday, 07 April 2025
When Vladimir Jurowski returns to what used to be “his” London Philharmonic Orchestra, you’d better jump. I would have done...
Mark Kidel
Monday, 07 April 2025
The sax-player Kenny Garrett established a reputation as one of Miles Davis’s band in the Amandla (1989) period. He was also...
Kieron Tyler
Monday, 07 April 2025
The titular “lighthouse of glass” is a place where the narrator is “crying into the sun,” in which there is a need to “stand...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 06 April 2025
Stereo Instrumental Music was recorded in July 1976 and originally issued only on cassette. The release was organised by...
Graham Rickson
Sunday, 06 April 2025
Akira Kurosawa described his 1961 hit Yojimbo as a tale of “rivalry on both sides, and both sides are equally bad… we are...
David Nice
Saturday, 05 April 2025
Igor Levit is a master of the unorthodox marathon, one he was happy to share last night with 24-year-old Austrian Lukas...
Aleks Sierz
Saturday, 05 April 2025
Is the theatre of the absurd dead? In today’s world, when cruel and crazy events happen almost daily, the idea that you can...
Helen Hawkins
Saturday, 05 April 2025
Many know that the actor Richard Burton began life as a miner’s son called Richard Jenkins. Not so many are aware of the...

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★★★★ PETER GRIMES, WELSH NATIONAL OPERA Febrile energy and rage

★★★★★ YOJIMBO / SANJURO A pair of Kurosawa classics, beautifully restored

★★★ MR BURTON Harry Lawtey and Toby Jones excel as the future Richard Burton & his mentor

★★★ SOFIA HARDIG - LIGHTHOUSE OF GLASS Swedish singer-songwriter in control of her music

★★★★ RHINOCEROS, ALMEIDA THEATRE Joyously absurd and absurdly joyful

★★★★★ FRANG, LPO, JUROWSKI, RFH Beauty revealed in Beethoven, Schumann and Schubert

★★★ KENNY GARRETT, RONNIE SCOTT'S Conjuring the spirit and treading water

disc of the day

Album: Bon Iver - SABLE ƒABLE

An album of exquisite wonder

The future of Arts Journalism

 

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Subscribe to theartsdesk.com

Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.

To take a subscription now simply click here.

And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?

tv

MobLand, Paramount+ review - more guns, goons and gangsters from Guy Ritchie

High-powered cast impersonates the larcenous Harrigan dynasty

This City is Ours, BBC One review - civil war rocks family cocaine racket

Terrific cast powers Stephen Butchard's Liverpool drug-ring saga

The Potato Lab, Netflix review - a K-drama with heart and wit

Love among Korean potato-researchers is surprisingly funny and ideal for Janeites

film

Blu-ray: Yojimbo / Sanjuro

A pair of Kurosawa classics, beautifully restored

Mr Burton review - modest film about the birth of an extraordinary talent

Harry Lawtey and Toby Jones excel as the future Richard Burton and his mentor

new music

Album: Bon Iver - SABLE ƒABLE

An album of exquisite wonder

Primal Scream, O2 Academy, Birmingham review - from anthems of social justice to songs of heartbreak

Bobby Gillespie and Andrew Innes aren’t ready to join the heritage circuit yet

theartsdesk on Vinyl 89: Wilco, Decius, Hot 8 Brass Band, Henge, Dub Syndicate, Motörhead and more

The last-standing and largest regular vinyl record reviews in the world

classical

LSO, Noseda, Barbican review - Half Six shake-up

Principal guest conductor is adrenalin-charged in presentation of a Prokofiev monster

Frang, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - every beauty revealed

Schumann rarity equals Beethoven and Schubert in perfectly executed programme

Levit, Sternath, Wigmore Hall review - pushing the boundaries in Prokofiev and Shostakovich

Master pianist shines the spotlight on star protégé in another unique programme

opera

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Owen Wingrave, RNCM, Manchester review - battle of a pacifist

Orpha Phelan brings on the big guns for Britten’s charge against war

theatre

Rhinoceros, Almeida Theatre review - joyously absurd and absurdly joyful
Ionesco classic gets an entertainingly vivid and contemporary update
The Importance of Being Oscar, Jermyn Street Theatre review - Wilde, still burning bright
Alastair Whatley honours his subject in a quietly powerful performance
Stiletto, Charing Cross Theatre review - new musical excess
Quirky, operatic show won't please everyone, but will delight many

comedy

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Marcus Brigstocke, Touring review - modern manhood laid bare

Observations on what it is to be a bloke today

Matt Forde, Touring review - politics, poo and Viagra

The personal and political collide

Books

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Howard Amos: Russia Starts Here review - East meets West, via the Pskov region

A journalist looks beyond borders in this searching account of the Russian mind

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