Classical Reviews

Florian Boesch, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore Hall

alexandra Coghlan Friday, 30 January 2015

Ernst Krenek is probably best remembered nowadays as the composer of Jonny Spielt Auf – the quintessential Zeitoper of Weimar Germany and later the archetype of all that was designated “degenerate” in art by the Nazi regime. And perhaps also as – briefly – the husband of Anna Mahler, daughter of Gustav. But Krenek was far more than that.

Comment

Hannigan, LPO, Jurowski, Festival Hall

Geoff Brown Thursday, 29 January 2015

Barbara Hannigan, we all know, is game for anything. This Canadian soprano with the pearliest tones and the dramatic instincts of a Sarah Bernhardt can find beauty and meaning in almost every contemporary composer’s barbed wire. Recently she’s been cavorting on stage as Alban Berg’s Lulu; earlier this month, for a sliver of Ligeti, she paraded herself on the Barbican platform as a gum-chewing schoolgirl in a naughty micro-skirt.

Classical CDs Weekly: Henry Mancini, Georg Breinschmid, Beethoven

graham Rickson Saturday, 24 January 2015

Henry Mancini: The Classic Soundtrack Collection (Sony)

James Dillon's Stabat Mater, London Sinfonietta, Volkov, QEH

Gavin Dixon Thursday, 22 January 2015

James Dillon calls this major work, premered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival last November, a “Cubist Stabat Mater”. He sets the hymn, but adds in more recent words, texts on related themes by Picasso, Kristeva and Rilke, among others. The music, too, acknowledges the passage of historical time, with subtle references to musical styles from down the centuries.

Latvian Radio Choir, Kļava, St John's Smith Square

Gavin Dixon Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Latvia likes to be different. At least that’s the message they sent out with the cultural programme marking the start of the country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Pomp and circumstance were out, and instead we got a Cage-inspired happening, an audio/visual presentation that was many things: part video installation, part performance art. The only thing you couldn’t describe it as was a choral concert.

JACK Quartet, Wigmore Hall

Geoff Brown Tuesday, 20 January 2015

The mixed grilled school of programme-making is not for the JACK Quartet. Contemporary, contemporary, and contemporary: that was the bill of fare last night at this challenging recital offered by the young American group, graduates of the Eastman School of Music, who derive their capitalised title from the initial letters of the members’ first names. Like the Arditti String Quartet, one of their mentors, you’d never find them playing Schubert.

Colli, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican Hall

David Nice Saturday, 17 January 2015

Was 1911 the best ever year for music?

Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Mozart, Poulenc

graham Rickson Saturday, 17 January 2015

Bach: St John Passion Berliner Philharmoniker, Members of the Rudfunkchors Berlin, Soloists/Sir Simon Rattle, with staging by Peter Sellars (Berliner Philharmoniker)

Hannigan, LSO, Rattle, Barbican Hall

Peter Quantrill Friday, 16 January 2015

For his second programme this week with the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle conducted variations on a programme he’s been doing for years. So what’s the theme? Invention and hysteria, you might say. Berg’s Marie in Wozzeck and Stravinsky’s virgin in The Rite of Spring both meet gory if wordless ends.

Jansen, Golan, Wigmore Hall

Sebastian Scotney Tuesday, 13 January 2015

This recital had looked so good on paper. The charismatic Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, with Itamar Golan at the piano, would bring all the brooding darkness of late '60s Shostakovich to life, and would then charm and finally dazzle in Ravel. In the hall on the night, and in particular in the second half, she didn't quite live up to such expectations.