Classical Reviews
Beethoven Discovery Day, Batiashvili, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review – reassessing a rarityMonday, 20 January 2020
#Beethoven250 is in full swing at the Barbican. Like most venues, they are keen to show a different side to the composer in his jubilee year. And the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives ticks all sorts of anniversary boxes. Read more... |
Mahler's Eighth, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - a symphony of 600Monday, 20 January 2020
“Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound” wrote Gustav Mahler of his Eighth Symphony. “There are no longer human voices, but planets and suns revolving.” It’s an image that captures the impossible scale and mind-boggling ambition of this so called “Symphony of a Thousand”. Read more... |
Currie, Jordan, NCO, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - major marimba musicSaturday, 18 January 2020
Finding one piece for marimba soloist and string orchestra would tax the powers of many concert planners, never mind coming up with two, so the Northern Chamber Orchestra is to be congratulated on its first Manchester performance of 2020 – especially since they found two concerto-style works from almost the same point in ... Read more... |
Watkins, Clayton, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - a rainbow cornucopiaFriday, 17 January 2020
Horns fanfared, coasted and chorused through yet another Philharmonia winner of a concert to match the impressive planning of its Weimar season last year and no doubt a plan close to the heart of principal conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who started his musical life as a horn-player. Read more... |
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore Hall review - pure musical essenceWednesday, 15 January 2020
"What is it about Mozart?" asked Sviatoslav Richter in 1982. "Is there a pianist alive who really manages to play him well?...Haydn is infinitely less difficult to play (he's almost easy, in fact). Read more... |
Röschmann, LSO, Rattle, Symphony Hall, Birmingham review - passion with precisionWednesday, 15 January 2020
Alongside the heartfelt tenderness, there is an emotional weight - as well as a compositional sophistication - prevalent in Alban Berg’s Seven Early Songs. Perhaps this correctly discloses the word "early" as pertaining to the composer’s journey as an artist, as opposed to his lived years. Read more... |
Gautier Capuçon, Yuja Wang, Barbican review - spellbinding moments in circumscribed programmeTuesday, 14 January 2020
Why go to hear a cello-and-piano recital in a large hall, and a rather unsatisfying programme (delayed without explanation for 15 minutes, incidentally) spotlighting a transcription of a work which was created for the violin? Read more... |
Kanneh-Mason, LMP, Martín, Fairfield Halls review – modest mastery on showTuesday, 14 January 2020
The soap-opera saga of the House of Windsor may not have been what the executive director of the London Mozart Players had in mind when she announced from the stage that Sheku Kanneh-Mason “is completely relevant for us”. Read more... |
Bowers-Broadbent, Theatre of Voices, Kings Place - grit needed in the oysterMonday, 13 January 2020
Not everyone who flocked to Day Two's evening concert in Kings Place's year-long Nature Unwrapped: Sounds of Life celebrations will have realised that they were catching parts two and three of a trilogy. Read more... |
Ibragimova, LSO, Stutzmann, Barbican review – grace and gravityFriday, 10 January 2020
Alina Ibragimova’s solo journey (in 2015) through the peaks and abysses of Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas gave me vivid Proms memories to treasure for a lifetime. The Russian-born violinist’s Bach abounds in both majesty and tenderness, as well as a consuming fire of intensity when the music so demands. She brought something of the same quality to her performance last night of Mendelssohn’s E minor concerto at the Barbican. Read more... |
Pages
inside classical music
latest in today
Help to give theartsdesk a future!
It all started on 09/09/09. That memorable date, September 9 2009, marked the debut of theartsdesk.com.
It followed some...
Albums of the Year: Beth Gibbons - Lives Outgrown
Beth Gibbons’s latest album touched me more deeply than most of...
Gavin & Stacey: The Finale, BBC One review - hilarious h...
The most hyped special of the season came to a...
Best of 2024: Opera
Ireland takes the palm for best of 2024, with Wexford hitting comic heights among its three rarities in Donizettian let’s-make-an-opera, while...
Jamie Foxx, Netflix Special review - doctors and divine inte...
In April 2023 the actor and comic Jamie Foxx had a stroke and was lucky to survive. In his latest Netflix Special, What Had Happened Was......
Best of 2024: Theatre
It's the images that linger in the mind as I think back on a bustling theatre year just gone. Sure, the year fielded excellent productions (and...
Albums of the Year 2024: Taylor Swift - The Tortured Poets D...
From the iconic Pop anthems that dominated this Summer, to the Pop Punk resurgence that is still going strong, it’s been an exciting twelve months...
Best of 2024: Blu-ray
Someone told me recently that Netflix subscribers can view just 22 films made before 1980. I've no idea if this is true (please correct me if not...