Classical Reviews

Classical CDs Weekly: Haydn, Gershwin, Ciccolini, Sheherazade

graham Rickson Friday, 22 April 2011

Riccardo Chailly's 'Gershwin': Fun music that can take a bit of stretching

Today we’ve Easter-themed music from Haydn and a rare chance to hear some delectable Grieg played by an old master. A kitsch Russian classic is given a new slant, and two Italians have serious fun with Gershwin.

Cage 99, St George's Bristol

mark Kidel Tuesday, 19 April 2011

John Cage, patron saint of silence and noise

John Cage, the focus of an adventurous three-day mini-festival in Bristol, is possibly one of the most influential figures in 20th-century culture. As much a practical philosopher as a composer of note, he made artists, writers and musicians think about the nature of chance, our place in nature and the role of the subject in the creative process.

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Classical CDs Weekly: Berg, Bruckner, Spoliansky

graham Rickson Friday, 15 April 2011

'Music of Tribute: Alban Berg': 'Serious, rewarding music for serious times'

This weekend's classical highlights comprise an eloquent tribute to a 20th-century master, entertaining cabaret songs from Weimar-era Berlin and some sublime Bruckner choral music recorded by an Edinburgh choir.

London Sinfonietta, Atherton, Queen Elizabeth Hall

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Friday, 15 April 2011

The most interesting thing about Louis Andriessen's musical snapshot of the famous eroticist Anaïs Nin - being given its UK premiere at the Queen Elizabeth Hall last night - was that the scene on the chaise longue in which Nin (Cristina Zavalloni) simulates riding her father was nowhere near the most unsettling episode.

Miloš Karadaglić, LPO Foyle Future Firsts, 100 Club

David Nice Thursday, 14 April 2011

Bear with me while, like supergroomed rising star Miloš Karadaglić retuning his guitar to a mellower vein, I adjust my concert-hall vocab and describe this as a no-gimmicks sell-out gig underground with young musicians from the London Philharmonic’s Foyle Future Firsts scheme presenting two varied sets and Karadaglić headlining. And now I’ll just revert to old habits and declare the meat to be a slice of Classicism chromatically spiced (Mozart) and a 20th-century maverick pushing Neo-Baroque...

Mahler Cycle, Philharmonia, Maazel, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

philip Radcliffe Monday, 11 April 2011

However, to begin at the beginning – the First Symphony in D major, first performed in 1889 in Budapest, with the composer conducting. There’s a lot to be said for giving Manchester its scoop (naturally, we don’t regard it as a dress rehearsal for the Royal Festival Hall performance tonight). In any case, Manchester had its big Mahler feast last year, when the Halle and the BBC Philharmonic joined forces to celebrate the 150th anniversary of his birth.

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Unsuk Chin Day, Barbican

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Monday, 11 April 2011

Some of the most exciting Western classical music being composed today comes from the Far East. Composers from Japan and South Korea - possibly because they find themselves in a different intellectual cycle to us in the West - seem to be able to do things we can't. The BBC Symphony Orchestra dedicated one of their Total Immersion series to Korean Unsuk Chin, an unconventional Modernist whose relationship to melody and storytelling is refreshingly unashamed, but who, on the evidence of the...

St Matthew Passion, The Bach Choir, Royal Festival Hall

alexandra Coghlan Sunday, 10 April 2011

James Gilchrist: Wishing the speediest of recoveries to this Godfather of English vocal lyricism

As Handel’s Messiah is to Christmas so the music of Bach is to Lent. Every Passiontide churches and concert halls are flooded with performances that include everything from dainty consort renderings of the St John Passion to choral societies delivering all but symphonic St Matthew Passions. Mightiest of all, however, is The Bach Choir’s annual concert. Performed on Palm Sunday to a reliably sold-out Royal Festival Hall, it’s a fixture of over 80 years' standing and...

Daniel Barenboim, Tate Modern

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Saturday, 09 April 2011

It had all the hallmarks of being an almighty car crash of an event. Barenboim? Chopin? Turbine Hall? You might as well have dumped the piano at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Actually, acoustically, it wasn't quite that bad. It sounded as if Barenboim was playing next door. Next door in France, that is. Or Germany.

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Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, Russians, Labèques, Sackbuts

graham Rickson Friday, 08 April 2011

Handel's 'Alexander's Feast': 'A celebration of the positive power of music'

There is a change to our coverage of classical CD releases. Since theartsdesk began in September 2009, we have been reviewing on a monthly basis. As of today we're switching to weekly and our round-up of the new classical albums will now appear every Saturday. To mark the change, we have a bumper helping, with Tansy Davies's new release taking a bow as our Disc of the Day. As for the rest, there's a Russian flavour – historic, idiomatic performances of Tchaikovsky...