Classical Reviews
Verdi's Requiem, Royal Opera, Pappano review - all that heaven allowsWednesday, 24 October 2018
Here it comes - get a grip. The tears have started flowing in the trio "Quid sum miser" and 12 minutes later, as the tenor embarks on his "Ingemisco" solo, you have to stop the shakes turning into noisy sobbing. The composer then lets you off the hook for a bit, but only transcendent beauty in singing and playing can achieve quite this effect in Verdi's Requiem. Read more... |
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Milton Court review - brilliantly hyper-active MozartTuesday, 23 October 2018
Think Glastonbury, not Salzburg. It struck me at Milton Court last night that the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s ebullient, rock’n’roll Mozart would go down a storm at the sort of music festival renowned for canvas more than canapes. Read more... |
Lawson, London Sinfonietta, Kings Place Review – diverse explorations of timeMonday, 22 October 2018
Kings Place takes a broad and "curated" approach to season programming, and events often have to fit into very nebulous and abstract themes. This concert by the London Sinfonietta was part of a strand called "Time Unwrapped" and sought to explore the role of time in music. Read more... |
The Triumph of Time and Truth, Higginbottom, Kings Place review – time well spent, despite the wordsSaturday, 20 October 2018
You can always depend on Handel to turn verbal dross into musical gold. The chasm between lumbering doggerel and soaring sound can seldom have yawned wider, though, that in several numbers from the third, English version of The Triumph of Time and Truth. “Melancholy is a folly, Wave all sorrow until tomorrow,” poor Mhairi Lawson had to sing, like some game trouper in a village panto scripted by the vicar after one too many cream sherries. Read more... |
Fröst, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican review - blood, sweat and sweetnessThursday, 18 October 2018
Single adjectives by way of description always sell masterpieces short, and especially the ambiguous symphonies forged in blood, sweat and tears during the Stalin years. Read more... |
CBSO, Leleux, Birmingham Town Hall review - oboe extraordinaireThursday, 18 October 2018
There’s always a special atmosphere when the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra returns to Birmingham Town Hall, and it’s not just because of the building’s Greek Revival beauty: the gilded sunburst on the ceiling, or the towering, intricately painted mass of the organ, topped with its cameo of Queen Victoria. Read more... |
Hallé, Gardner, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review – drama and humanityMonday, 15 October 2018
Edward Gardner was back amongst friends when he opened the Hallé’s Thursday series concerts. This was the place where he made his mark, as the Manchester orchestra’s first ever assistant conductor (and Youth Orchestra music director), and he’s been a welcome visitor ever since. Read more... |
The Music of Harry Potter, CBSO, Seal, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - orchestral wizardrySaturday, 13 October 2018
Imagine an orchestral concert made up exclusively of contemporary works by living composers: a programme in which every note was written within the last two decades. Imagine not only that this concert is sufficiently popular to fill a 2,000-seat hall with a noticeably youthful and diverse crowd, but that its format is already being replicated regularly by pretty much every major UK symphony orchestra. Now ask yourself how much critical attention such a concert would receive? Read more... |
Opolais, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Nelsons, RFH review - splendid and awful stretchesWednesday, 10 October 2018
Latvia is fighting fit. The recent elections did not see the expected victory for the pro-Kremlin Harmony party; support for the European Union and NATO will be well represented. Read more... |
Hardenberger, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Nelsons, RFH review - new songs for an old gloryTuesday, 09 October 2018
During his quarter-century in charge of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, the late Kurt Masur nobly held out a musical hand of friendship and collaboration from the other side of the Iron Curtain. Read more... |
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