Classical Reviews
Grosvenor, BBCPO, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterTuesday, 07 February 2017
Two young guys called Ben graced the BBC Philharmonic platform at the Bridgewater Hall – looking almost like Ant and Dec if you let your imagination wander. Ben Gernon, 27, had just been announced as the orchestra’s new Principal Guest Conductor (while predecessor John Storgårds now rejoices in the title of Chief Guest Conductor … it almost seems a bout of alternative facts is coming on), and this was his Bridgewater Hall début. Read more... |
theartsdesk in Rome: Bartoli and Pappano on home turfMonday, 06 February 2017
Wherever you are in the world, opportunities to see Cecilia Bartoli perform are hard to come by. A one-off chance to see her sing Mozart in Rome was not to be missed. This was a rare homecoming for Bartoli. Born in Rome, she studied at the city’s Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia where many members of the orchestra teach. Read more... |
Widmann, BBCSO, Oramo, BarbicanSaturday, 04 February 2017
The BBC Symphony Orchestra has continued its long-standing support of British contemporary music with this première of a new commission, Michael Zev Gordon’s Violin Concerto for violinist... Read more... |
Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 01 February 2017
Mitsuko Uchida specialises in elegant, if uncontroversial, interpretations of core Austro-German repertoire, yet she’s never predictable, and every performance is full of unexpected insights and welcome surprises. Read more... |
Argerich, St Petersburg PO, Temirkanov, RFHTuesday, 31 January 2017
Yuri Temirkanov chose a shamelessly populist programme for the London leg of the St Petersburg Philharmonic tour. But Khachaturian, Prokofiev and Shostakovich are core repertoire for this orchestra, and ideal for showing off its many strengths. Read more... |
Gauvin, Le Concert de la Loge, Chauvin, Wigmore HallMonday, 30 January 2017
Canadian soprano Karina Gauvin has one of the most beautiful voices in the business – a glinting crystal blade sheathed in velvet. She wields it with skill, darting swiftly with coloratura one minute, before stabbing deep with emotion the next. In Handel she’s peerless, and this was an exhibition round of a programme, designed to show both singer and composer at their best. Read more... |
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore HallFriday, 27 January 2017
Restlessness in a good sense was the keynote of Elisabeth Leonskaja's latest revelatory recital. At 71, the Russian pianist, now an Austrian citizen, has all the supreme mastery it takes to make the volatility work: perfect weight and balance, miraculous rhythmic articulation, the right sense of space and freedom, and the ability to see where a line or a movement is going. Read more... |
Van Keulen, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 26 January 2017
Readers might be wondering how often the spectre of Trump is destined to loom in reviews. Read more... |
Aimard, Stefanovich, St John's Smith SquareWednesday, 25 January 2017
Visions de l’Amen was a shoo-in for Belief and Beyond Belief, the year-long festival of art inspired by religious faith. The festival’s goals seem dangerously nebulous – almost anything could fit its remit – but it is hard to imagine a work that better encapsulates "The Search for the Meaning of Life" than Messiaen’s transcendental masterpiece. Read more... |
Christine Rice, Julius Drake, Middle Temple HallTuesday, 24 January 2017
To catch the searing desolation of a lover scorned, you need to be the complete artist, with temperament and technique in perfect equilibrium. Mezzo Christine Rice has taken us from Berlioz's Marguerite and Mozart's Donna Elvira at English National Opera via Birtwistle's Ariadne to Haydn's, and - most taxing of all - the end of an affair by telephone in Poulenc's La Voix Humaine. Read more... |
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