Reviews
CBSO, Nelsons, Symphony Hall, BirminghamThursday, 03 February 2011
Mahler cycles in his centenary year are about as predictable as dead leaves in autumn. But they perhaps belong more in Birmingham than in some other cities. Mahler, after all, was a big factor in making Simon Rattle’s name, and Rattle was a big... Read more... |
Vanessa Paradis, KokoThursday, 03 February 2011
Vanessa Paradis is a card-carrying icon, but for us Brits the reason why is hard to define. After the hyper-cute “Joe le taxi” hit the charts in 1987 when she was 14, Paradis didn’t carve a musical career here. Being the partner of Johnny Depp is... Read more... |
Vogt, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bělohlávek, Barbican HallThursday, 03 February 2011
As Mahler symphonies rain down from heaven - or flare up from hell, according to your viewpoint - in this second anniversary year, it's wise to choose carefully. But why earmark Jiří Bělohlávek's performance of the Sixth above the likes of Gergiev,... Read more... |
Boardwalk Empire, Sky AtlanticThursday, 03 February 2011
"We've got a product a fella's got to have," decreed Nucky Thompson, the County Treasurer in Atlantic City the day Prohibition came into force. "Better still, we've got a product he's not allowed to have."For Nucky and his cronies running the... Read more... |
Magdalena Kožená, Private Musicke, Wigmore HallWednesday, 02 February 2011
The Wigmore Hall, with its laboriously marbled and gilded period interior, doesn’t exactly scream “rebellion”. Yet for the second time in as many months its conservative classical crowd saw recital conventions discarded like the too-tight bow tie... Read more... |
American Ballet Theatre, Prog 2, Sadler’s WellsWednesday, 02 February 2011
Jardin aux Lilas is one of ABT’s great calling cards, and it was danced with great seriousness of purpose and devotion by an admirably schooled cast. This short ballet, to "Poème" by Chausson (admirably played by a pick-up orchestra), is one of... Read more... |
The Portrait, Opera NorthWednesday, 02 February 2011
Based on a short story by Gogol, Alexander Medvedev’s libretto for Mieczysław Weinberg’s The Portrait was originally conceived for Shostakovich. It was subsequently passed to Weinberg, who finished his opera in 1980. It’s a bleak, Faustian tale... Read more... |
Gang of Four, HeavenWednesday, 02 February 2011
Gang of Four vocalist Jon King remembers the last time he was in Heaven – the venue, not the celestial aftershow party. It was the night of the Great Hurricane of 1987 and as he walked down nearby Villiers Street later that evening two trees blew... Read more... |
The Shape of Things, Soho GalleryWednesday, 02 February 2011
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Antonioni Project, Barbican TheatreWednesday, 02 February 2011
Back in the early 1960s, anyone with half a curious cultural brain in their heads would take themselves off to small fleapit cinemas like The Academy or the Classic in Oxford Street (now defunct). There you could catch the latest European art... Read more... |
The Marriage of Figaro, Dragon Opera, The Gate, CardiffWednesday, 02 February 2011
Dragon Opera (or Opera’r Ddraig, if you insist: they don’t) is in every sense a young company, founded a mere two years ago, and based at Cardiff’s Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Its singers, directors and orchestral players are nearly all... Read more... |
Esben and the Witch, Pavilion Theatre, BrightonWednesday, 02 February 2011
It seems to me that Esben and the Witch would like to perform in absolute darkness. Or perhaps in silhouette behind a screen like an oriental shadowplay. Such a theatrical device might even suit their dark, menacing music. Instead, two of the three... Read more... |
