Classical Reviews
Bavouzet, BBCSO, Stasevska, Barbican review - ardent souls in mythic magicThursday, 13 March 2025
Not to be overshadowed by the adrenalin charges of the Budapest Festival Orchestra the previous evening, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and its Principal Guest Conductor Dalia Stasevska gave a supercharged triple whammy of masterpieces. They even had a pianist to match the Budapesters’ Igor Levit, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. He seemed as delighted with Stasevska and the players as they were with him; the post-performance embraces spoke volumes about communicative kindred spirits. Read more... |
Levit, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, RFH review - anger unleashed, fantasy finessed in ProkofievWednesday, 12 March 2025
A showstopper for starters followed by dark depths, a quirky compilation after the interval: it’s what you might expect from Iván Fischer and his 42-year-old Budapest Festival Orchestra. All Prokofiev, too: the sort of thing we used to get from Valery Gergiev and visiting Petersburgers. Yet while Gergiev’s alliance with Putin means he’ll not be here again, Fischer has balanced criticising Orbán and keeping his Hungarian orchestra on the road. Read more... |
A Form of Exile: Edward Said and Late Style, CLS, Wood, QEH review - baggy ferment of ideas and soundsMonday, 10 March 2025
You could plan an entire concert season around the theme of “late style”, its paradoxes and variations. For this one-off, many of us expected a concentrated mesh of Edward Said’s only-connect observations with a well-balanced musical programme, something along the lines of the recent 90-minute cloud tapestry the City of London Sinfonia wove with atmospheric scientist Simon Clark (Rachel Halliburton, whom I accompanied, loved it, as did I). Read more... |
BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - an International Women's Day specialMonday, 10 March 2025
Anja Bihlmaier returned to the BBC Philharmonic – for the first time in the Bridgewater Hall as principal guest conductor – with a programme to mark International Women’s Day, and consisting entirely of music by women composers, past and present. Read more... |
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov, Barbican review - from Russia, with tough loveSaturday, 08 March 2025
Exactly half a century ago, Semyon Bychkov fled the USSR for the United States as he sought to swap tyranny for liberty. Last night, in a world that feels utterly different yet even more terrifying, the great conductor turned the stellar talents of his Czech Philharmonic Orchestra to the music of Dmitri Shostakovich: both a victim, and a troubled celebrant, of the searing Soviet history he endured. Read more... |
Mahan Esfahani, Wigmore Hall review - shimmering poise and radical brillianceSaturday, 01 March 2025
To watch Mahan Esfahani play the harpsichord is to watch a philosopher at work. While there’s often playfulness and shimmering levity you can feel the thought behind each note. The Iranian-American’s passion for the harpsichord began when he was nine – the moment he heard it on a cassette his uncle gave to him when he was visiting Iran, he knew he wanted to spend his life devoted to the instrument. Read more... |
Gromes, Hallé, Chauhan, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - new concerto and music of triumphFriday, 28 February 2025
A cello concerto received its UK premiere in Manchester last night – almost 100 years after it was written. It’s by Maria Herz, a German-Jewish composer who had to leave her native land in the 1930s and whose work has remained almost unknown until quite recently. Raphaela Gromes has championed this concerto, giving its German premiere last year, and she brought it to Britain with the Hallé and Alpesh Chauhan (main picture). Read more... |
Helen Charlston, Sholto Kynoch, Temple Church review - fine singing, powerful stage presenceThursday, 27 February 2025
Mezzo-soprano Helen Charlston just gets better and better, both as singer and as actor. Last night’s recital at Temple Church had an unusual and wide-ranging programme – consisting of a first half hopping through the centuries, followed by a complete performance of Schumann’s “Kerner-Lieder” cycle. Read more... |
Ridout, 12 Ensemble, Wigmore Hall review - brilliant Britten and bombastic BrahmsThursday, 27 February 2025
Last night was the first time I had heard the 12 Ensemble, a string group currently Artist-in-Residence at the Wigmore Hall, and I was very impressed, both by the standard of the playing and the enterprising programming. This gave regular audience-members a little of what they’re used to (a chunk of Brahms) and a decent portion of what they’re not. Read more... |
Argerich, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, Papadopoulos, Barbican review - the great pianist as life and soulTuesday, 25 February 2025
At the age of 83, Martha Argerich contains more personality in her little finger than many people do in their entire bodies. Read more... |
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