Classical Reviews

BBC Symphony Orchestra, Sir Andrew Davis, Barbican

David Nice Friday, 08 October 2010

Elgar and Delius are two geniuses who only ever composed themselves - the first drawing heavily on psychology and physiognomy, the second drenching his country visions in painful nostalgia. So it made good sense to have man and nature side by side in Sir Andrew Davis's latest enterprising concert. Oh, and there was a commission from the Royal Philharmonic Society's Elgar Bursary too, though this was only "new" music by the old guard.

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Electronica: BBC Concert Orchestra, Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, Hazlewood, QEH

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Thursday, 07 October 2010

I would call them burglars: musicians from the experimental rock, electronica and sound-art traditions who cross the genre divide, sneak into the world of classical music, pillage its more easily pillaged valuables, thieve its respectability, filch its original ideas, and sprint back breathlessly to their wide-eyed fans to show off this brilliantly clever "new" classical music (much of which is made up of techniques that George Benjamin would have grown out of by the age of six) in double...

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Kissin, LPO, Neeme Järvi, Royal Festival Hall

David Nice Wednesday, 06 October 2010

Neeme Järvi: Easy mastery that lifts the familiar

"Well, Kissin's the star of the show," opined the fatuous gentleman who rolled in late to my row after the first piece on the programme. Possibly not, I wanted to snap back, in the light of that very fine pianist's current erratic form. But in any case this celebrity-hunter had just missed one of the great conductors working effortless miracles of charm on...

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Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival Hall

Edward Seckerson Wednesday, 06 October 2010

Mitsuko Uchida’s playing is a glorious collusion of intellect and fantasy. Her recitals are meticulously planned but seemingly unexpected with chosen pieces impacting upon each other in ways one might not have imagined. Three keyboard giants – Beethoven, Schumann, and Chopin – were the meat of this recital with not an incidental or superfluous note to be found anywhere.

Håkan Hardenberger, Wigmore Hall

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Monday, 04 October 2010

The first phrase of the first piece by Georges Enescu - silken, expressive, rounded, breathed to perfection - established a very good case for Håkan Hardenberger being the greatest living trumpeter. The rest of his Wigmore Hall recital established a pretty equally watertight case against.

These Go To Eleven: The Problem of Noisy Orchestras

Alice Lagnado Sunday, 03 October 2010

“Last summer we played a gala performance at the London Coliseum which included extracts from Spartacus, and most of the brass players wore earplugs because the music was relentlessly loud,” says Paul Murphy, Principal Conductor of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the orchestra of the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

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Connolly, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bělohlávek, Barbican

David Nice Saturday, 02 October 2010

As experienced Wagnerian Jiří Bělohlávek came on to launch the BBCSO's new season in mid-air with the Tristan Prelude, I wondered whether the world's finest interpreter of Isolde's serving maid Brangäne, lustrous mezzo Sarah Connolly, was waiting to up her game, and her range, and tackle the Liebestod. Sadly not: that remained,...

Mullova, London Symphony Orchestra, Nelsons, Barbican Hall

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Friday, 01 October 2010

This season's LSO artist-in-focus, violinist Viktoria Mullova, is an incorrigible off-roader. The rougher the terrain the better. Early, modern, rock, folk: she'll absorb their shocks, vault their bumps, relish their pitfalls and come out without so much as a scratch. So Mullova's opening concert last night was intriguing. Prokofiev's Second Violin Concerto isn't exactly smooth terrain, but its roughness is pretty suburban.

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Grimaud, Philharmonia, Salonen, Royal Festival Hall

David Nice Thursday, 30 September 2010

Esa-Pekka Salonen and his dauntless band of Philharmonia players have been wrestling with heroes.

Matsuev, London Symphony Orchestra, Gergiev, Barbican Hall

David Nice Sunday, 26 September 2010

Shchedrin's best works, in my experience - and his output has been prolific of late - colour and treat the themes of others: chastushki or Russian street songs in the brilliant Naughty Limericks Concerto (to be heard in the second programme of the season), Tchaikovsky in the Anna...

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