Classical Reviews
Brockes-Passion, Arcangelo, Cohen, Wigmore Hall review – hybrid HandelWednesday, 09 October 2019
Handel’s Brockes-Passion is a curious piece - sacred but not liturgical, and with a strong influence from opera, though it is a concert work. Solo voices predominate, and the singers assembled at Wigmore Hall were mostly fine. Read more... |
Cargill, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - luscious opening to a rich seasonTuesday, 08 October 2019
The conductor Thomas Søndergård turned 50 on Friday. Read more... |
Leonskaja, Ferschtman, Várdai, Wigmore Hall review - direct line to Schubert's geniusMonday, 07 October 2019
From the epic-lyric heaven storming of Beethoven's last three piano sonatas to the lyric-epic dances on the volcano of Schubert's two late piano trios isn't so big a leap, especially when you have the clairvoyant poise between colossal and intimate of the great Elisabeth Leonskaja. Read more... |
Fry, AAM, Egarr, Barbican review – revival and revolutionThursday, 03 October 2019
Second performances are even more valuable than premieres, composers say, when it comes to launching a piece into the world. Spare a thought, then, for Jan Ladislav Dussek, who has had to wait over two centuries for this prize to be awarded to his Mass in G – really, a Missa solemnis – of a scale to rival Beethoven’s example. Read more... |
Balsom, CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - made in BrumThursday, 03 October 2019
There’s nothing like practising what you preach. “I say straight out that I regard all so-called 12-tone music, so-called serial music, so-called electronic music and so-called avant-garde music as utter rubbish, and indeed a deliberate conning of the public” said the composer Ruth Gipps to her biographer Jill Halstead. Read more... |
Tetzlaff, Nelsen, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - spider's webs and silk sheetsMonday, 30 September 2019
You can't expect a full house when the only work approaching a repertoire staple on your programme is Berg's Lulu Suite. Read more... |
Dickson, Brautigam, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings Place review - disappointing Mozart concertoMonday, 30 September 2019
Kings Place Hall One is a slightly strange venue, its small stage size seeming out of proportion for the dimensions of the room. It means only a chamber orchestra can fit on stage – and even then they often look uncomfortably squashed, especially with a piano for company. Read more... |
Fischer, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - total focus in shattering threnodiesSaturday, 28 September 2019
Throughout his 11 years as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra to date, Vladimir Jurowski has focused on two elements, programme-wise: tellingly-linked concerts of the rich and rare, and fine-tuned interpretations of the repertoire's cornerstones over the seasons. Read more... |
Tetzlaff, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - glories of the Weimar eraFriday, 27 September 2019
The mid-1930s, when the Nazi government replaced the Weimar republic, was a bleak time for the composers featured in last night’s Philharmonia concert. Arnold Schoenberg was the first to leave for the US, followed by Paul Hindemith in 1938. Read more... |
Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester, review - concertos as operaThursday, 26 September 2019
Manchester Camerata’s series of in-concert recordings featuring Mozart piano concertos with Jean-Efflam Bavouzet is well under way now, and this programme, like others before it, included a couple of his opera... Read more... |
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