Reviews
MacMillan Christmas Oratorio, LPO, Elder, RFH review – a new star for the season
Monday, 06 December 2021
The shadow of the cross falls over James MacMillan’s manger. You may come for his work’s consoling, even transporting, beauty and mystery. It’s there in abundance in his new Christmas Oratorio. Yet what may grip hardest are his passages of crashing dread and horror. For MacMillan, the incarnation in Bethlehem triggers a journey across human suffering that only redemption, through Christ’s crucifixion, can close.
Measure for Measure, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - this problem play is a delight
Monday, 06 December 2021
Measure for Measure may be the quintessential Shakespearean “problem” play, but just what has earned it that epithet remains a quandary. Each generation approaches the matter from its own perspective. The developments of recent years, #MeToo most of all, have given new resonance to one of its central themes, the imbalance of law over nature and the quality of justice, but the play’s “resolution”, if it can even be called that, leaves the questions open.
Hanslip, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall...
Monday, 06 December 2021
Manchester’s oldest chamber orchestra has been gathering a new audience at the Stoller Hall in Chetham’s School of Music since that auditorium opened...
Music Reissues Weekly: Once Upon A Time In The...
Sunday, 05 December 2021
The picture seen above doesn’t have quite the same resonance as Art Kane’s 1958 shot A Great Day in Harlem which brought 57 American jazz musicians...
Zingari/Tosca Suite, Opera Rara, Rizzi, Cadogan...
Saturday, 04 December 2021
Two major composers took Pushkin’s narrative poem The Gypsies as the subject for two very different operas. The 19 year old Rachmaninov in 1892 had...
Life of Pi, Wyndham's Theatre review - visually ravishing show uplifted by astonishing puppetry
Despite its deceptive lightness, at heart this is a dark terrifying story |
Starstruck, Scottish Ballet review - smart, sassy and cinematic
A ballet by Gene Kelly from 1960 gets new wings |
Hellbound, Netflix review - supernatural assassins usher in an age of terror
Nightmare alternative reality from director Yeon Sang-ho |
The Courtauld Gallery - the old place, just better
After a three-year redevelopment, one of the UK's finest galleries is better than ever |
Hedvig Mollestad, National Jazz Scene, Oslo review - watch out, there’s a storm about
Norway’s jazz individualist launches her new album ‘Tempest Revisited’ with a bang |
Feng, CBSO, Wilson, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - effortless expression
Big emotions and unexpected connections, played with matchless style |
The Power of the Dog review - of rawhide and roses
Jane Campion's 1920s Western nails the lid on rugged masculinity |
Paul Weller, Barrowland, Glasgow review - Modfather holding back father time with old and new tricks
A lengthy set spotlighted the veteran's creativity and stubbornness |
Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn review - viral venom in Bucharest
Radu Jude's satire takes the sword to Romania's hideous past and present |
theartsdesk on Vinyl 67: Squid, The Beatles, Beach Riot, Black Sabbath, Quantic, Heiko Maile and more
The biggest, most wide-ranging, regular vinyl reviews in the galaxy |
Final Account review - documentary confronting the last survivors of the Nazi era
Luke Holland's swan song is a powerful legacy left on film |
Tchetuev, LPO, Larsen-Maguire, Congress Theatre, Eastbourne review - sunshine by the sea
Recreative energy from a conductor to watch, fantasy from a fine Ukrainian pianist |
Peter Robison: Flying Blind review – a story of decline and crawl
The galling account of the 737 MAX Boeing tragedies |
Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall review - calm waters run deep
A piano journey down the river of musical time |
The Good Life, Richmond Theatre review - popular sitcom gets its own origin story
Tom, Barbara, Jerry and Margo are back in the '70s, but with a message for today |
Lubaina Himid, Tate Modern review – more explication please
A carnival of characters looking forwards as well as backwards |
Kim, RSNO, Stockhammer, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - bold programming survives a replacement
Fascinating sequence culminates in heartrending Brahms from a young master |
The Danish Collector: Delacroix to Gauguin review - fabulous art, not sure about the framing
Exhibition on Screen offers a catch-up for those who missed the RA show |
Album: Kenny G - New Standards
Stultifyingly slow and near-lifeless |
Music Reissues Weekly: Box Of Pin-Ups - The British Sounds of 1965, Think I'm Going Weird - Original Artefacts From The British Psychedelic Scene 1966-68
Box sets nailing the musical unpredictability of the years 1965 to 1968 |
Paris Photo 2021 review - a moveable feast
Paris Photo returns, in a new temporary home |
Scenes from the Wild, Morgan, CLS, Paterson, Southwark Cathedral review - a cornucopia of the seasons
Cheryl Frances-Hoad's 90-minute song cycle should be a winner when the words emerge |
The Unforgivable review - Sandra Bullock gets stuck in a doom-struck rut
Movie version of Sally Wainwright TV thriller can't live up to its potential |
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, The Mill, Birmingham review – Geordie rockers blow the roof off
Raucous Tynesiders finally tour last year’s Viscerals album |
latest in today
MacMillan Christmas Oratorio, LPO, Elder, RFH review – a new...
The shadow of the cross falls over James MacMillan’s manger. You may come for his work’s consoling, even transporting, beauty and mystery. It’s...
Measure for Measure, Sam Wanamaker Theatre review - this pro...
Measure for Measure may be the quintessential Shakespearean “problem” play, but just what has earned it that epithet remains a quandary....
Hanslip, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall, Mancheste...
Manchester’s oldest chamber orchestra has been gathering a new audience at the Stoller Hall in Chetham’s School of Music since that auditorium...
Antony Sher: 'I discovered I could be other people...
The energy of Antony Sher, who has died at the age of 72,...
Music Reissues Weekly: Once Upon A Time In The West Midlands...
The picture seen above doesn’t have quite the same resonance as Art Kane’s 1958 shot A Great Day in Harlem which brought 57 American jazz...
Blu-Ray: Le Samouraï
Jef Costello, the lone contract killer in Le Samouraï (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1967), carries out the murder of the boss of a night club....
Zingari/Tosca Suite, Opera Rara, Rizzi, Cadogan Hall review...
Two major composers took Pushkin’s narrative poem The Gypsies as the subject for two very different...
Album: Madmess - Rebirth
Madmess are a Portuguese power trio who are based in London. Muscular and (mostly) instrumental stoner...
Life of Pi, Wyndham's Theatre review - visually ravishi...
When the Canadian Yann Martel went to India as a young adult backpacker he fell in love – not with one person but with the rich imaginative...
Starstruck, Scottish Ballet review - smart, sassy and cinema...
How do you picture Gene Kelly? Most likely in his effervescent screen persona, either as the burly ex-GI of An American in Paris, or as...