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Graham Rickson
Saturday, 11 January 2020
Beethoven: Symphonies 1-9 Danish Chamber Orchestra/Ádám Fischer (Naxos)“I need to play the notes in such a way that we can recreate the feelings of the listeners which Beethoven...
Kieron Tyler
Saturday, 11 January 2020
“Only in a Man’s World” is a snappy pop-funk nugget with an Eighties feel. There’s a kinship with Peter Gabriel and “Once in a Lifetime” Talking Heads. Its lyrics though are...
Markie Robson-Scott
Friday, 10 January 2020
An idyllic Scottish classroom full of happy children making sponge paintings of flowers with two enthusiastic young teachers – clearly, doom is in the air. Here comes that sense...
Boyd Tonkin
Friday, 10 January 2020
Alina Ibragimova’s solo journey (in 2015) through the peaks and abysses of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas gave me vivid Proms memories to treasure for a lifetime. The Russian-born...
Saskia Baron
Friday, 10 January 2020
The Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, once programmed a season of films entitled Emotional Sloppy Manic Cinema, and if sloppy is subtracted from that description, it’s a pretty...
Jenny Gilbert
Friday, 10 January 2020
It’s unlikely that Lord Byron would recognise much about Le Corsaire. Beyond the characters’ names and the Ottoman location, there is little trace of the 1814 bestselling verse-...
David Nice
Friday, 10 January 2020
Assuming the world holds together that long, there will be something we can rely on annually all the way to 2041, the 250th...
Joseph Walsh
Friday, 10 January 2020
It’s 1968, and Seberg leaves her husband, Romain Gary (Yvan Attal) and son, Alexandre (Gabriel Sky) for an audition in...
Veronica Lee
Friday, 10 January 2020
Mischief Theatre's “Goes Wrong” oeuvre is now well established: broad humour combined with physical comedy and slapstick...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 10 January 2020
18 years ago, Electric Soft Parade, centred around brothers Alex and Thomas White, were the latest hyped hope of indie kids...
Demetrios Matheou
Thursday, 09 January 2020
The greatest war films are those which capture the terrifying physical and psychological ordeal that soldiers face, along...
David Nice
Thursday, 09 January 2020
The devil wore all manner of outlandish attire in last night's chameleonic programme devised by Peter Ash, the London...
Owen Richards
Thursday, 09 January 2020
Oh how British indies love a road trip. Trekking across the rugged landscape, meeting a colourful cast of characters,...
Veronica Lee
Thursday, 09 January 2020
It's the smallest lies that can bring you down. When he is asked by a detective how he got on with his family, who have just...
Helen Wallace
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
When I mention Nature Unwrapped, a year-long series at Kings Place subtitled "Sounds of Life", the responses are often...
Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, BBC Four review - meticulous account of a haunting American tragedy
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
It happened 42 years ago, but the mass suicide of 900 people at the Jonestown settlement in Guyana is still an event that...
Laura De Lisle
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
The Tyler sisters start as they mean to go on: bickering. Middle sister Gail (Bryony Hannah) has come home from uni to find...
Adam Sweeting
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
Series about fishing have become a durable mini-genre, including the likes of Deadliest Catch and Saltwater Heroes. However...
Jo Southerd
Wednesday, 08 January 2020
In 2019, music kept its place as a vital means for expression and escapism in an increasingly troubled and troubling world....
disc of the day
Album: Field Music - Making a New World
Audacious concept album examining the still-extant ripples of World War One
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tv
Deadwater Fell, Channel 4 review - dark murder mystery in a Scottish village
Just what the doctor ordered? David Tennant as a GP under suspicion in a gripping first episode
White House Farm, ITV review - gripping opener of true crime drama
Freddie Fox is excellent as murderer Jeremy Bamber
Jonestown: Terror in the Jungle, BBC Four review - meticulous account of a haunting American tragedy
How deranged cult leader Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to the slaughter
film
Uncut Gems review - relentless tale of gambling and the diamond trade
Adrenaline fuelled portrait of a gambler running out of luck
Seberg review - lightweight script, heavyweight performance
Kristen Stewart dazzles in this glitzy, puddle-deep account of Jean Seberg
1917 review – immersive, exemplary war film
Sam Mendes makes his most personal film to date – and one of his most accomplished
new music
Album: Field Music - Making a New World
Audacious concept album examining the still-extant ripples of World War One
Album: Electric Soft Parade - Stages
Brighton indie-psyche stalwarts offer a luscious, heart-rending exploration of grief
Albums of the Year 2019: Little Simz - GREY Area
Records to return to again and again, from a year better left behind
classical
Classical CDs and Vinyl Weekly: Beethoven, Holst
Symphonies and concertos from this year's birthday boy, and a British orchestral classic gets a spectacular airing
Ibragimova, LSO, Stutzmann, Barbican review – grace and gravity
Memorable Mendelssohn, bookended by hearty but classy Brahms and Wagner
Clarke, Ränzlöv, The Mozartists, Page, Wigmore Hall - young Mozart among the giants
1770 is this year's focus in 'Mozart 250,' showcasing two bright young singers
opera
Best of 2019: Opera
Haunted-ballroom Shostakovich and high jinks in Royal Albert Hall Berlioz top the bill
Peter Grimes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Gardner, RFH review - more instrumental than vocal intensity
Superlative playing and conducting, some fine singing, but the protagonist is a bit peaky
theatre
Magic Goes Wrong, Vaudeville Theatre review - entertaining spoof
Mischief Theatre and Penn & Teller mash-up
The Tyler Sisters, Hampstead Theatre Downstairs review – raucous celebration of sisterhood
Quick-witted new play tackles a sibling bond in snapshots over 40 years
Celebrating the musicals of Jerry Herman (1931-2019)
An immortal lyricist and composer leaves us plenty to be joyful about
dance
Le Corsaire, London Coliseum review - hugely entertaining
Don't mind the plot. ENB dance up a storm in this exuberant pirate caper
Best of 2019: Dance
In a year dominated by big names and big companies, delights were found off-piste
The Red Shoes, Sadler's Wells review - the ultimate stage movie
Matthew Bourne's love letter to the cinema returns, in even sharper focus
comedy
Adam Kay, Bloomsbury Theatre review - festive tales from the NHS coalface
Medic-turned-comic reads from his waspish memoir
Andy Parsons, Stamford Corn Exchange review - politics and the art of persuasion
Cheering antidote to Brexit blues
gaming
Rage 2 review – garish but great post-apocalyptic shooter
Challenge The Authority in this 'Mad Max on mushrooms' renegade romp
Win a Luxury Weekend for Two to Celebrate Brighton Festival!
An eclectic line-up spanning music, theatre, dance, visual art, film, comedy, literature and spoken word could be yours with boutique hotel and exquisite meals included
World War Z review - bloodthirsty fun with the zombie apocalypse
Chainsawing the brain-eaters as you battle against the tide of the undead
visual arts
Caravaggio & Bernini, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna - high emotion in 17th century Rome
Painting and sculpture vie for supremacy in the eternal city
Dora Maar, Tate Modern review - how women disappear
Stunning photographs and fabulous photomontages by overlooked and elusive artist
latest comments
Spot-on review of an exciting, enthralling...
I have to say, third episode was rather rushed...
It looks like you did not review her fabulous...
I understand that Freddy. I’m puzzled as to why!
Dolly Wells's accent is (very authentic) Dutch,...
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PS - this may sound disrespectful to the country...
One episode down, and I can't see what all the...