Classical Reviews

Classical CDs Weekly: Haydn, Mozart, Xavier Montsalvatge, Daniel Propper

graham Rickson Saturday, 03 November 2012

Xavier Montsalvatge: Orchestral works BBC Philharmonic/Juanjo Mena (Chandos)

Benjamin Grosvenor, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Kimon Daltas Thursday, 01 November 2012

Benjamin Grosvenor made his Southbank recital debut last night in a sold-out Queen Elizabeth Hall in another milestone in his unstoppable evolution from wunderkind to fully-fledged concert star. It has been a good year for the 20-year-old pianist, during which he added a Classic Brit and two Gramophone awards to a Critics’ Circle accolade, Decca recording contract and tenure on the Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme.

Tetzlaff, LPO, Vänskä, Royal Festival Hall

Edward Seckerson Thursday, 01 November 2012

Some symphonies are natural curtain-raisers: Sibelius’ Third is one. Music began with rhythm and in this piece the cellos are the distant drummers who bring us back to basics with their curt opening measures. Osmo Vänskä clipped the rhythms are kept them on a tight rein - because he knows how this piece goes, how Sibelius’ search for new found economy and textural leanness lends the music an uneasy tension.

Classical CDs Weekly: Nicola Benedetti, Liszt, Thierry Pécou

graham Rickson Saturday, 27 October 2012

Nicola Benedetti: The Silver Violin (Decca)

Montgomery, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Jasper Rees Friday, 26 October 2012

It’s a sadness to all lovers of the French horn that Mozart’s four horn concertos, the product of his longest friendship, make their appearance all too rarely in the concert hall. Though the building blocks of the repertoire, perhaps their apparent frivolity counts against them.

Hahn, LPO, Skrowaczewski, Royal Festival Hall

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Thursday, 25 October 2012

Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. That's quite a mouthful. Bruckner's symphonies can be too. But this is one of the reasons why Skrowaczewski has acquired quite a cult following for his Bruckner performances; it's why I once drove all the way to Zurich to hear him conduct one. His Bruckner is never offered as an indigestible slab of meat. It's never hard or chewy.

Leopold Trio, BBCSO, Wigglesworth, Barbican Hall

David Nice Saturday, 20 October 2012

The prospect of adventuring from one unpredictable day to the next in the course of Michael Tippett’s Triple Concerto, and from dawn to twilight in just over an hour’s orchestral music from Wagner’s Ring, seemed very much weighted in the English composer’s favour. Frankly, had Mark Wigglesworth only conducted Siegfried’s Funeral March in this concert’s second half, he would have consolidated an already glowing reputation as a top-notch Wagnerian.

Theorin, Hallé, Stenz, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

philip Radcliffe Friday, 19 October 2012

It is considerate of Manchester’s two professional symphony orchestras to have organised their opening Wagner celebration salvoes so that they dovetail so neatly.

Weltethos: CBSO, Gardner, Royal Festival Hall

alexandra Coghlan Monday, 08 October 2012

The quest for the spiritual in the musical has been the dominant preoccupation of Jonathan Harvey’s since his earliest works. Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy has been an acknowledged influence on the composer, who has made a career of exploring what Steiner described as “the special character of the individual note”, which “expands into a melody and harmony leading straight into the world of the spirit”.

War and Peace: Russian National Orchestra, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival Hall

David Nice Saturday, 06 October 2012

Can two half-orchestras playing together ever be better than one well-established organism? The second and third concerts in yet another special project masterminded by Vladimir Jurowski, drawing together British and Russian perspectives on war and peace, proved that they could. It may have been disappointing to find the Russian National Orchestra on Thursday evening launching so cold-bloodedly into the feral start of Vaughan Williams’s Sixth Symphony.