Classical Reviews
Bach Sunday with the Suzukis, RAM / Appl, AAM, Milton Court review - father, son and Holy GhostTuesday, 21 January 2020
Not long after noon on Sunday, strange bells began ringing. In just 11 bars, Bach summons pairs of flutes, oboes and violas da gamba against pizzicato strings and continuo to tintinnabulate against the alto's recitative lines about a "vibrating clang" to "pierce our marrows and our veins". These hallucinatory sounds and harmonies could have been composed yesterday. Read more... |
Blomfield, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - sounds of a troubled truceTuesday, 21 January 2020
Concert programmes that set out to tell us a story can prove a mixed blessing. Yes, it’s valuable and stimulating to find ideas, and narratives, embodied in the musical flow. But great pieces, well-performed, have a habit of cutting loose from the frame of concepts someone has devised for them. Read more... |
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... |
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