Classical Reviews
London Piano Festival, Kings Place review - feasts of fearless fingerworkTuesday, 10 October 2017
What has 12 hands, 18 legs, 176 keys and two page-turners? Party night at the London Piano Festival, of course. The six-pianist, two-piano marathon on Saturday evening was a high point of this delectable four-day event – though far from the only one. Read more... |
Widmann, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - when Mirga met JörgFriday, 06 October 2017
Apparently it was Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s idea to invite Jörg Widmann to be the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra’s Artist in Residence this season – indeed, according to backstage rumours she made the phone call herself. Read more... |
Roman Rabinovich, Hatchlands review - poetry from Chopin's very own Pleyel pianoThursday, 05 October 2017
What pianist wouldn't long to lay fingers on keyboards impregnated, as Roman Rabinovich put it in his introduction yesterday afternoon, with the DNAs of Haydn and Chopin? Read more... |
Anne Schwanewilms, Charles Spencer, Wigmore Hall review - going deep in SchubertTuesday, 03 October 2017
They say that Wigmore Hall audiences know their Lieder singers, but last night's far from packed house dispelled that illusion; the hall has been full for much lesser artists than German soprano Anne Schwanewilms. No matter; she gave her usual masterclass, ineffably poised between tone-colour, phrasing and word-pointing. Read more... |
Goode, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - tender Mozart, dynamic BrucknerMonday, 02 October 2017
Richard Goode is one of the world’s great pianists, but you wouldn’t guess it from his humble and unpretentious stage manner. He wears thick glasses and squints into the music, and when he plays he sings along under his breath. When he is not playing, he often turns and gestures vaguely at the orchestra, not so much aping the conductor as moving with the flow of the music. He clearly lives every note, and everything he does is to the service of the score. Read more... |
Kuusisto, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - Icelanders fare better than SibeliusFriday, 29 September 2017
London orchestras do communicate with each other, sometimes at least, when it comes to programming. Read more... |
Pogostkina, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican review - human emotions in Sibelius's heavenThursday, 28 September 2017
It was on the strength of a single concert including a startling Sibelius Luonnotar and Third Symphony, thankfully reported here, that Sakari Oramo was appointed Chief Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Read more... |
Lammermuir Festival 2017 review - rich and deeply rewardingTuesday, 26 September 2017
Increasingly, the Lammermuir Festival is – one audience member whispered conspiratorially to me – what East Lothian music lovers are switching to alongside the Edinburgh International Festival. It’s insidious to compare, of course – but still, you can see the attraction. Read more... |
BBCPO, Mena, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - Mahler's Third lovingly realisedMonday, 25 September 2017
Juanjo Mena memorably began his tenure as chief conductor at the BBC Philharmonic with a Mahler symphony (the Second), and chose to enter his seventh and last season with them at the Bridgewater Hall with the Third. It was a testimonial to an era at the end of which he leaves with the orchestra in at least as good shape as he found them, and in some ways better still. Read more... |
The Tallis Scholars, Phillips, Cadogan Hall review - intimacy in late Renaissance musicSaturday, 23 September 2017
Peter Phillips and the Tallis Scholars have nothing to prove when it comes to Renaissance choral music – few ensembles can match them for clarity, balance and purity of tone. Read more... |
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