Classical Reviews

Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall

David Nice Friday, 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.

Comment

Van Keulen, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival Hall

David Nice Thursday, 26 January 2017

Readers might be wondering how often the spectre of Trump is destined to loom in reviews.

Aimard, Stefanovich, St John's Smith Square

Gavin Dixon Wednesday, 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.

Comment

Christine Rice, Julius Drake, Middle Temple Hall

David Nice Tuesday, 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.

Mørk, Bergen Philharmonic, Gardner, Cadogan Hall

Gavin Dixon Saturday, 21 January 2017

The Bergen Philharmonic recently appointed Edward Gardner as its Chief Conductor – ENO’s loss is Bergen’s gain. He is contracted to 2021, so this is the start of a long relationship. On the strength of this concert, the London leg of a UK tour, it is an ideal match.

LSO, Rattle, Barbican

Peter Quantrill Friday, 20 January 2017

Symphony is a word carrying heavy historical baggage. It’s understandable when composers dig for inspiration elsewhere. All the same, Mark-Anthony Turnage has grasped the symphonic nettle with Remembering – In memoriam Evan Scofield which received its first performance last night. Many more will follow, I’d venture.

Summerfield, Jackson, Riches, Classical Opera, Page, Wigmore Hall

David Nice Wednesday, 18 January 2017

Young Amadeus is growing up in real time with MOZART 250, Classical Opera's ambitious 26-year project following its hero's creative life from childhood to the grave. 2015's start, marking two and a half centuries since the boy wonder's first visit to London, and its sequel had little to show of its main man, but plenty of other, senior composers flourishing in the same years.

The Last Supper, BBCSSO, Brabbins, City Halls, Glasgow

David Kettle Monday, 16 January 2017

You can tell it’s a big deal when even a handful of London critics abandon the capital for a Saturday evening in chilly Glasgow.

Bavouzet, BBCPO, Collon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Robert Beale Monday, 16 January 2017

Colin Matthews’s arrangements for orchestra of the 24 Debussy Préludes (originally commissioned by the Hallé) have been widely admired. The BBC Philharmonic’s concert, conducted by Nicholas Collon, at the Bridgewater Hall on Friday night began with three of Ravel’s five piano Miroirs, two of them orchestrated by Matthews (one a world premiere) and one by the late Steven Stucky.

Hardenberger, CBSO, Nelsons, Symphony Hall Birmingham

Richard Bratby Friday, 13 January 2017

Birmingham audiences are a supportive bunch. There was never much likelihood that they’d greet Andris Nelsons’s first Birmingham appearance since he departed for Boston in 2015 with less than the same warmth that they keep for other former CBSO music directors.