Classical Reviews
Classical CDs Weekly: Dutilleux, Rimsky-Korsakov, Roger WoodwardSaturday, 02 August 2014
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Prom 19: BBC Singers, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, PetrenkoFriday, 01 August 2014
A monstrous celebration prefaced by thunderous organ chords is always going to be more the Albert Hall’s kind of thing than a comic opera viewed through the wrong end of the telescope. So Strauss’s Festival Prelude kicked off a first half of 150th birthday celebrations in more appropriate style than last week’s Der Rosenkavalier. Read more... |
Prom 16: Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic, Goetzel/Prom 17: Les Arts Florissants, ChristieWednesday, 30 July 2014
The sprightly tread of Handel’s Queen of Sheba, attended by two wonderful Turkish oboists, wove the most fragile of gold threads between full orchestral exotica and Rameau motets of infinite variety last night. Not that any more links need be found: it’s the addition of the late night events which turns the Proms into a real festival, not the mere concatenation of concerts you might find in the main orchestral season. Read more... |
Prom 14: Pahud, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, FischerMonday, 28 July 2014
Last night's Prom offered an intriguing mixture of French music both sacred and profane, with a British world premiere as its centrepiece. Duruflé’s pious Requiem rubbed shoulders with Ravel’s wordly homages to the Viennese waltz, Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and La Valse. Read more... |
A Hundred Million Musicians: China's Classical Challenge, BBC FourMonday, 28 July 2014
A few years ago I sat high up in a rapt, sweltering Albert Hall as a lone pianist performed for two hours in the round. Neither before nor since has the BBC Proms treated a classical musician like a rock god. But then Lang Lang, whether his music-making causes you to cheer or shudder, was and remains the poster boy of a cultural revolution. A few weeks earlier he'd opened the Olympic Games in Beijing. Read more... |
Prom 12: Bach St John Passion, Zurich Chamber Orchestra, NorringtonSunday, 27 July 2014
Sir Roger Norrington, 80 this year, produced a masterful St John Passion in the first of his two appearances at this year’s Proms, built around his excellent Swiss chamber orchestra and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Dvořák, Haydn, Janáček, Thomas LarcherFriday, 25 July 2014
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Prom 7: BBCSO, Bělohlávek/Prom 8: Pet Shop BoysThursday, 24 July 2014
The Forties and Fifties, seen through the eyes of Shostakovich and the Pet Shop Boys, were the historical centre of gravity for last night’s courageously broad Proms programme. Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. Read more... |
Man Overboard, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, LSO St Luke'sTuesday, 22 July 2014
If the 15-word limit of a succinct listings blurb ever taught you a lesson let it be immediate suspicion of any performer or musician termed "jazzy". This wariness could extend to anything generically suffixed by "y" or "ish", simply because it suggests either pretence or a lack of original or strong identity. Read more... |
Prom 4: World Orchestra for Peace, GergievMonday, 21 July 2014
This was a rare outing by the World Orchestra for Peace, which has performed fewer than 20 concerts since the death of its founder Sir Georg Solti in 1997. UNESCO had designated this BBC Prom as "The 2014 Concert for Peace", the definite article implying a uniqueness which - according to rumour - is because concerts planned for Munich and Aix failed to get beyond the planning stage. It drew a respectable house to the Royal Albert Hall, which looked about three-quarters full. Read more... |
Dutilleux: Symphony no 1, Tout un monde lontain, The Shadows of Time Xavier Phillips (cello), Seattle Symphony/Ludovic Morlot (Seattle Symphony Media)Pages
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