Reviews
Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, Igor Levit, Barbican review - an eagle's-eye view
Monday, 27 January 2020
"Citizen. European. Pianist," declares Russian-born, Berlin-based Igor Levit on the front page of his website. One should add, since he wouldn't, Mensch and master of giants.
Talking About Trees review - friendships formed through film
Monday, 27 January 2020
What’s the appeal of cinema? It can transport us to fantasy lands, or open our eyes to new perspectives. But one aspect that’s less discussed is how it brings people together. Going to the cinema is a social stimulus, a shared experience that sparks discussions and forges friendships.
Street Scene, Opera North review - a true...
Monday, 27 January 2020
Kurt Weill’s “Broadway opera” – his own preferred description – is an extraordinary and brilliant piece of work. Its music ranges from the seriously...
Slipknot, Arena Birmingham review – Iowa metal-...
Sunday, 26 January 2020
Given Slipknot’s studied image as arch misanthropes, with their horror show costumes, aggressive posturing and frightening masks designed to put the...
Albert Costa: The Bilingual Brain review – double...
Sunday, 26 January 2020
Those of us who have to toil and sweat with other languages often feel a twinge of envy when we meet truly bilingual folk. That ability to switch...
Clemens Meyer: Dark Satellites review - eccentric orbits
Overlooked stories from the fringes of contemporary Germany |
Reissue CDs Weekly: Game Theory - Across The Barrier Of Sound
The Three O’Clock’s Michael Quercio joins the final iteration of Scott Miller’s art-popsters |
Bombay Bicycle Club, Cardiff University Students Union review - guitar pop, perfected
Indie darlings impress after a six year hiatus |
Cargill, BBCSO, Saraste, Barbican review - less is more in Shostakovich
Wartime symphony presented with dark intensity, but new commission disappoints |
Stewart Copeland's Adventures in Music, BBC Four review - an essay on the emotional power of music
The polymathic drummer explores the ways in which music can tell stories |
Robert Henke CBM 8032, Barbican - a vision of possibilities from 40 years ago
Advanced music and visuals coming from primitive technology |
Uncle Vanya, Harold Pinter Theatre review - a superlative company achievement
Ian Rickson’s exemplary production relishes the nuances of Conor McPherson's adaptation |
The Personal History of David Copperfield review – top-drawer Dickens
Armando Iannucci’s colour-blind Copperfield is a veritable feast of comic acting |
The Sunset Limited, Boulevard Theatre review - all talk, no theatre
Cormac McCarthy two-hander tries an audience's patience |
Matt Forde, Soho Theatre review - Brexit and beyond
Cogent political analysis |
The Welkin, National Theatre review - women's labour is a pain
Maxine Peake struggles to make the voice of reason heard in feminist history play |
The Grudge review - non-stop shocks wear out their welcome
Rebooted reboot of Japanese horror hit turns terror into tedium |
Scenes with Girls, Royal Court review - feminist separatism 2.0
New play about female friendship is refreshingly original and dazzlingly exciting |
Miloš Karadaglić, Birmingham Town Hall review - flashy and fierce, with exquisite detail
Triumphant solo performance from virtuoso guitarist |
Chris Packham: 7.7 Billion People and Counting, BBC Two review - is it too late to get population growth under control?
Campaiging naturalist surveys the damage we're inflicting on our overcrowded planet |
Crazy Delicious, Channel 4 review - the most ridiculous cooking programme on TV ?
Heston Blumenthal's culinary deities encourage crackpot foodism |
Album: Ruby Turner – Love Was Here
Go and hear Ruby Turner perform live |
You Stupid Darkness!, Southwark Playhouse review - an intriguing muddle
Overlong Sam Steiner play needs clarity to go with its compassion |
English National Ballet 70th Anniversary Gala, Coliseum review - a fine celebration
ENB raises a toast to its past and future in an evening of nostalgia and high style |
Bach Sunday with the Suzukis, RAM / Appl, AAM, Milton Court review - father, son and Holy Ghost
From the grandest beginnings of the B Minor Mass at lunchtime to solo cantatas at night |
The Outsider, Sky Atlantic review - double trouble in small-town Georgia
The terror mounts in gripping Stephen King adaptation |
Blomfield, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - sounds of a troubled truce
Three idiosyncratic works tell one story of the world in 1945 |
Celtic Connections 2020, Glasgow review - fine feast of Scottish music
Global traditions come together in Scotland's annual musical melting pot |
Beethoven Discovery Day, Batiashvili, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review – reassessing a rarity
Soloists, chorus and orchestra shine in a rarely heard oratorio |
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latest in today
Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, Igor Levit, Barbican re...
"Citizen. European. Pianist," declares Russian-born, Berlin-...
Street Scene, Opera North review - a true ensemble achieveme...
Kurt Weill’s “Broadway opera” – his own preferred description – is an extraordinary and brilliant piece of...
Album: Sam Lee, Old Wow - a hymn to Mother Nature
Folk music has always thrived in times of adversity and...
Slipknot, Arena Birmingham review – Iowa metal-heads tear th...
Given Slipknot’s studied image as arch misanthropes, with their horror show costumes, aggressive posturing and frightening masks designed to put...
Albert Costa: The Bilingual Brain review – double-talking he...
Those of us who have to toil and sweat with other languages often feel a twinge of envy when we meet truly bilingual folk. That ability to switch...
Clemens Meyer: Dark Satellites review - eccentric orbits
In Clemens Meyer’s new collection of short stories Dark...
Reissue CDs Weekly: Game Theory - Across The Barrier Of Soun...
Since this column last caught up with the totemic California art-popsters Game Theory, band mainstay Gil Ray passed away. He died in January 2017...
Bombay Bicycle Club, Cardiff University Students Union revie...
When a band claims a crowd is the loudest of the tour, you can usually guarantee they've said it on every other date too. But for one sweaty night...
Gerde's Folk City at 60, The Iridium, New York City - a...
Fifty-nine years to the day, 24 January 1961, that a young college dropout named Robert Zimmerman clambered out of a car on the Manhattan end of...