Classical Reviews
Khachatryan, London Symphony Orchestra, Gergiev, Barbican HallTuesday, 18 January 2011![]()
Valery Gergiev’s survey of the Tchaikovsky symphonies began here on a chilly January night with youthfully idealistic Winter Daydreams thrown into the sharpest relief against a disillusioned and angry Shostakovich whose own journey into the bleak mid-winter was, by the time he penned his Second Violin Concerto, very much a one-way ticket. Two revealing performances, one remarkable young violinist. Read more... |
Hough, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, Royal Festival HallMonday, 17 January 2011![]()
Who knew the changeover of the EU Presidency could be this much fun? Amid the formal bowing and scraping at the Royal Festival Hall bunfights last night that signalled that the Hungarians were now at the tiller of this sinking political ship were some dodgy political metaphors, a round of orchestral Where's Wally and some extraordinary music.
Read more...
|
Leonidas Kavakos, Enrico Pace, Wigmore HallMonday, 17 January 2011![]()
No doubt about it, Leonidas Kavakos is one of the world's top 10 live-wire violinists. But here in London he seems to have sold himself a bit short recently with a less than great concerto repertoire (Korngold, Szymanowski's Second). Korngold furnished a springy intermezzo in last... Read more... |
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn GouldSunday, 16 January 2011![]()
The classical-music industry loves dead icons; witness the endless reissuing and remarketing of recordings by Kathleen Ferrier and Jacqueline du Pré. Canadian pianist Glenn Gould died from a stroke at the age of 50 in 1982 and his seminal Bach discs have never been out of the catalogue since. Françis Giraud told Gould’s story on screen before in his 1993 film Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould, an imaginative series of vignettes depicting scenes from Gould’s life. Read more... |
Christine Rice, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore HallSunday, 16 January 2011![]()
The Sunday Afternoon Song Recitals are a wonderful Wigmore tradition. Filling in that tricky gap between lengthy weekend lunch and early school-night supper, they offer a chunky one-act programme, generous but without the fuss and faff of an interval. Balancing young talent with more established performers, the next few months see (among others) Emma Bell, Anna Grevelius and Isabel Bayrakdarian occupying this slot. Playing to the prevailing mood yesterday afternoon was repertoire from Gounod... Read more... |
Mainetti, Perianes, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pons, BarbicanSaturday, 15 January 2011![]()
This was a programme born for marketing cliché: banish the winter blues by bathing in Latin American/Iberian warmth. And it turned out to be true, by virtue of an unexpected watershed. How did the BBC Symphony strings manage to be first among the London orchestras to slip into something truly sensual, whether tangoing with an Argentinian bandoneónist - "A what?" you may ask, and I'll tell you shortly - or dancing malagueñas with a Spanish pianist? Read more... |
Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr Wigmore HallThursday, 13 January 2011![]()
Not a lot of swooning goes on at the Wigmore Hall. Nor does it seem the kind of institution to endorse rapturous wailing, beating of the breast, or the throwing of either flowers or underwear. All of which leaves one with the problem of how to respond appropriately to a concert such as last night’s by Richard Egarr and countertenor Iestyn Davies. Decorous applause doesn’t quite seem to cut it when faced with such a joyous abundance of talent, and I’d have endured any amount of plague and/or... Read more... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson, BarbicanMonday, 10 January 2011![]()
Once upon a time, composers ran Hollywood. As conductor John Wilson reminded us last night, 44-time Oscar nominee and movie composer Alfred Newman became so powerful as second in command at MGM that he had two security guards posted at his office door. Any directors attempting to enquire how the score to their movies was getting along were told to clear off. Big, bold orchestral scores were Hollywood's crown jewels. At the Barbican last night we got a rare chance to inspect them close up....
Read more...
|
National Youth Orchestra/Kristjan Järvi, Leeds Town HallSunday, 09 January 2011![]()
A glance at the programme hinted at the identity of the orchestra: you don’t perform Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite and Janáček’s Sinfonietta in the same evening unless you’ve industrial quantities of brass and percussion to spare. This was riveting, transcendent stuff, and the most uplifting evening I’ve spent in a concert hall for years. Plus, the echoing barn of Leeds Town Hall is the ideal size for a 170-piece orchestra, a perfect place to experience Janáček’s... Read more... |
Mozart Unwrapped, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings PlaceThursday, 06 January 2011![]()
Read more... |
Pages
inside classical music
latest in today
![The city that never sleeps](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Anna%20Barclay%20header.jpg?itok=hgWnlrUS)
SUNDAY 30th June 2024
It’s late. But not really. Not by the standards of this place. Photographer Finetime and I...
![Cellist Zoë Martlew plays her own G-lude](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/July%2003%2C%202024_SM_NMCBirthdayConcert_Samples%20ZM.jpg?itok=jvirArQw)
NMC Recordings has spent 35 years promoting contemporary music by British composers, and this commitment to both emerging and established voices...
![Looking good for his age: Khalid Abdalla and cast in 'Mnemonic'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Mnemonic%201.jpg?itok=98CnQYI8)
I’m sitting in the Olivier waiting for the show to start, comfortable in the knowledge that I’ve seen the original production of Mnemonic...
![Satisfying without going too far: Enter Shikar's companion album 'Dancing On The Frontline'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/enter%20shikari%20dancing%20on%20the%20frontline.jpg?itok=yLB9eJhC)
For a band as creative as St Albans’ own electronic-hardcore-rock fusion pioneers, Enter Shikari, the last thing you would expect them to do is...
![Sharpening the Saws, 1927, by Oleksandr Bohomazov. Oil on canvas](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/U%20saws.jpg?itok=J1bAOd6U)
Ukraine’s history is complex and often bitter. The territory has been endlessly fought over, divided, annexed and occupied. From 1917-20 it...
![As ever with Kasabian, striking cover art, this time by Newcastle artist Jimmy Turrell](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/KASABIAN%20HAPPENINGS%20FINAL%20%281%29.jpg?itok=e_UYRKmI)
Great bands’ output can, famously, be predicated by the intense interaction between members, often between a central creative pairing. This can be...
![Crazy for you: Iestyn Davies as Orlando, with Rachel Redmond](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/orl%20id%20rr%202.jpg?itok=9-jsGU3Z)
The Academy of Ancient Music, which celebrates its “golden anniversary” this season, got going just as...
![And they're off: the cast of 'Starlight Express'](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/starlight.jpg?itok=kMe9Ol6t)
The reinvigoration of Andrew Lloyd Webber...
![Me and Mr Jones: Marisa Abela as Amy Winehouse with Jack O'Connell as Blake Fielder-Civil](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/backtoblackamyblake.jpg?itok=UkVKmMFF)
Sam Taylor-Johnson’s biopic Back to Black, written by Matt Greenhalgh and starring Marisa Abela (Industry) as Amy Winehouse, has...
![Fiery intensity: Katrine Sonstadt (on bass) with the Norwegian Chamber Orchestra](https://theartsdesk.com/sites/default/files/styles/thumbnail/public/mastimages/Pekka%20Kuusisto%20%26%20Norwegian%20Chamber%20Orchestra-%20DSCH%20Southbank%20Centre%2029-06-24%20Credit-Pete%20Woodhead-13_0.jpg?itok=7SvcYD1F)
This luminously persuasive, radically inventive performance of Shostakovich’s music...