Classical Reviews
BCMG, Heinen, Brindleyplace Birmingham review - from the concrete canyons to the starsFriday, 21 August 2020
Birmingham emerged from musical lockdown with Stockhausen. It couldn’t have been anyone else, really. Read more... |
Kaleidoscope Collective, Wigmore Hall online – playing with panache, as if to a live audienceWednesday, 19 August 2020
If it all comes across as vividly as this on screen, imagine what it would have been like to witness in person. Which quite a few of us very nearly did, until we had to be disinvited owing to changed government guidelines. Read more... |
Pavel Kolesnikov and Samson Tsoy, Bold Tendencies review - visions under the car-park roofMonday, 17 August 2020
Before the not-quite-clear all-clear was given for distanced performances indoors, Bold Tendencies already had the perfect summer solution in the floor space beneath its rooftop terrace in Peckham’s former multi-storey car park. Read more... |
Charles Owen, Fidelio Orchestra Café review - high-profile, robust romanticsThursday, 13 August 2020
Composer Gian-Carlo Menotti once asked rhetorically what society wanted of performing artists – “the bread of life or the after-dinner mint?” There were a couple of audience members last night – unique in my experience so far of the Fidelio Orchestra Café’s set-up – who clearly wanted pianist Charles Owen’s recital to be the pre-dinner amuse-bouche; one was reading a book from the start, another came... Read more... |
The Telephone, Scottish Opera/Cargill, RSNO, Søndergård, Edinburgh International Festival online - human emotions in digital formWednesday, 12 August 2020
Lockdown, perhaps more than any other time, has amplified how modern technology can be both a blessing and a curse. Of course, it’s wonderful to have the means to connect with friends and family scattered across the globe; carry on working, learning, eating, praying etc. with others; and enjoy art in new and innovative ways, such as this particular digital series. Read more... |
Louis Schwizgebel, Fidelio Orchestra Café review – gilt-edged postcards from around the worldFriday, 31 July 2020
A front-rank pianist only takes on Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in full confidence of being able to handle the massive bells and blazing chants of its grand finale, “The Great Gate of Kiev”. To risk it in a far from large café space adds to the element of danger and excited anticipation. Read more... |
Pavel Kolesnikov, Fidelio Orchestra Café review – a Chopin cosmosMonday, 27 July 2020
There is genius not only in the rainbow hues of Pavel Kolesnikov’s playing but also in the way his chosen programmes resonate. He’s given us interconnected wonders from across the centuries, but chose to focus on the greatest of composers for the piano in only his third such recital. Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Pärnu Music Festival 2020 – great live orchestra, ecstatic audienceSaturday, 25 July 2020
“At the Pärnu Music Festival 2020” were words I never expected to type. A fortnight ago Estonia finally upped its non-quarantinable country rate from 15 to 16 infections in every 100,000 people (the UK was then on 15.9; our unfathomable Foreign Office has not, to my knowledge, returned the compliment, despite Estonian rates being next to 0 for weeks). Read more... |
BBC Lunchtime Concerts from Glasgow's City Halls, BBC Radio 3 review - a feast for ears if not for eyesMonday, 20 July 2020
After the success of BBC Radio 3’s live lunchtime broadcasts from the Wigmore Hall, live music is now kicking off again north of the border, with four concerts broadcast from City Halls, Glasgow, presented by... Read more... |
Kanneh-Mason, Philharmonia, Wilson online review - light in darknessFriday, 17 July 2020
Presenting online concerts has been a Matterhorn-steep learning curve for the music sector. Now, after a few months in which imaginations have been tested to the limit, it’s becoming clear what works and what doesn’t. Read more... |
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