Classical Reviews

Prom 4: CBSO, Nelsons

Sebastian Scotney Monday, 20 July 2015

This Prom was the final concert of Andris Nelsons's remarkable seven-year spell as principal conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Their Prom showed the astonishing level of responsiveness and flexibility which he and they have achieved together, over the course of more than 300 concerts.

Comment

Prom 1: Vogt, Maltman, BBCSO, Oramo

Gavin Dixon Saturday, 18 July 2015

So it begins. Thousands of expectant audience members in a sweltering Albert Hall – heave ho! – riotous applause for the leader as he tunes the orchestra. A few more visits and all this will seem normal again, but it’s a culture shock to be thrown straight back in on the first night.

Comment

Classical CDs Weekly: Kit Downes, The Nash Ensemble, John Potter

graham Rickson Saturday, 18 July 2015

Kit Downes: Tricko Kit Downes (piano, organ), Lucy Railton (cello) (Coup Perdu)

theartsdesk at the East Neuk Festival: Church strings, garden horns

David Nice Monday, 13 July 2015

A peninsular spirit of place and the greatest of instrumentalists drew me a second time to the eastern nook (hence the “Neuk”) of Fife. But could a second report for theartsdesk be justified – wasn’t the premise the same for the 11th East Neuk Festival as it had been at the 10th? Not quite.

Classical CDs Weekly: Medtner, Sibelius, Tchaikovsky

graham Rickson Saturday, 11 July 2015

Medtner: Piano Sonatas Alessandro Taverna (Somm)

Mexico Philharmonic Orchestra, Cadogan Hall

Simon Broughton Friday, 10 July 2015

2015 is the "Year of Mexico in the United Kingdom" which is why we’ ve got an exhibition on the Mayas in Liverpool, masked wrestlers Luche Libre at the Albert Hall and the country’ s leading symphony orchestra on a debut UK tour. The Mexico Philharmonic was founded at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM) in 1936 and is the oldest symphony orchestra in the country.

Zimerman, LSO, Rattle, Barbican

Peter Quantrill Friday, 03 July 2015

Over the past decade Krystian Zimerman and Sir Simon Rattle have created and evolved a performing idea of Brahms’s D minor piano concerto which is still remarkable for its considered weight and grimly imposing grandeur, Michelangelo’s Mosè in music.

Comment

NYCC, NYJO, Southwark Cathedral

David Nice Friday, 03 July 2015

Cleopatra in her barge gliding down the nave of Southwark Cathedral? Only figuratively, in the hypnotic “Half the Fun” movement of Duke Ellington’s constantly surprising Shakespeare compendium Such Sweet Thunder. Still, it wouldn’t be that much stranger than the combination of a jazz orchestra and a chamber choir – so superlative as not to need the “youth” in their names observed – celebrating Shakespeare in his local place of worship.

Max Raabe, Wigmore Hall

Sebastian Scotney Wednesday, 24 June 2015

Fair exchange? German humour, perhaps?

Continuum Ensemble, Headlam, Kings Place

Gavin Dixon Sunday, 21 June 2015

Zeitoper, single scene micro-opera for modern times, enjoyed a brief vogue in the Weimar era, but disappeared as fast the Republic itself. This programme from the Continuum Ensemble resurrected four examples, all from the years 1927-28, to offer a snapshot of Germany’s quickly evolving music theatre scene between the wars. The works, by Hindemith, Ernst Toch and Kurt Weill, are short, with little narrative, and even less musical subtlety.