Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: Gathered From CoincidenceSunday, 29 July 2018
It might have begun with The Beatles espousal of Bob Dylan in 1964. There was also The Animals whose first two singles, issued the same year, repurposed tracks from Bob Dylan’s 1962 debut album. Before The Byrds hit big with their version of his “Mr... Read more... |
Prom 17, Murray, BBC NOW, Brabbyns review – pastoral vistas, with dark shadowsSaturday, 28 July 2018
Two of the major themes in this year’s Proms season are the hundredth anniversaries of the death of Hubert Parry and the end of the First World War. This programme brought those two ideas together, with two works by Parry himself, along with pieces... Read more... |
Apostasy review - trouble in the Jehovah's Witnesses' KingdomSaturday, 28 July 2018
Religion’s desire to fulfil humanity too often denies it instead. The cruelty of inflexible faith which breaks fallible adherents on its iron rules is at the core of this family drama, written and directed by former Jehovah’s Witness Daniel... Read more... |
Prom 16, Elder, Hallé – reason yoked to magic on one enchanted eveningFriday, 27 July 2018
Beguiling echoes, patterns and symmetries accompanied the Hallé on this Proms journey through the enchanted forests of orchestral sound. Those mellow but irresistible horns that began the evening with the ethereal chug of the pilgrim’s hymn from the... Read more... |
King Lear, Duke of York's Theatre, review - towering Ian McKellenFriday, 27 July 2018
Jonathan Munby's production starring Ian McKellen, first seen last year in Chichester and now transferred to the West End, reflects our everyday anxieties, emphasising in the world of a Trump presidency, the dangers of childish, petulant... Read more... |
Exit the King, National Theatre review - vivid, brilliant production that somehow leaves you feeling emptyThursday, 26 July 2018
The image of a raging, narcissistic tyrant, convinced that he can crush even death into oblivion, has all too many resonances these days. So this visually spectacular National Theatre resurrection of Ionesco’s 1962 play, adapted and directed by... Read more... |
Prom 15, Lewis, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon - a masterful Emperor took the musical laurelsThursday, 26 July 2018
There’s a particular quality to light seen from shadow. Think of the surface of the water glimpsed, hazy and haloed, as you swim upwards after a deep dive, or the smudged edges of city lights seen from a night flight. This concert by Ben Gernon and... Read more... |
Spamilton, Menier Chocolate Factory review - fun if overstuffedThursday, 26 July 2018
If it's possible to have somewhat too much of a good thing, that would seem to be the case with the British premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory of Spamilton. The latest in the indefatigable catalogue of New York songwriter-satirist Gerard... Read more... |
The Bletchley Circle: San Francisco, ITV review - the ludicrous in search of the preposterousThursday, 26 July 2018
Belatedly picking up from where series 2 of The Bletchley Circle left off in 2014, this comeback version has a go at transporting a couple of the original characters to the Californian West Coast, where they embroil themselves in the hunt for that... Read more... |
Prom 12, Weilerstein, BBCSO, Canellakis review - energetic 20th century classicsTuesday, 24 July 2018
Shostakovich’s First Cello Concerto combines the composer’s usual angst and nerviness with a sardonic humour, right from the opening bars, where the cello and orchestra seem to be playing in contradictory keys. At last night’s Prom, cellist Alisa... Read more... |
Proms at...Roundhouse / Proms 9 & 11 review - rituals from Messiaen to MahlerMonday, 23 July 2018
Once the Proms season is under way, you soon regret dissing the prospectus. Connections become apparent, long-term programming a merit, especially this weekend just gone, which took us from elegies and meditations on two world wars heavenwards at... Read more... |
Mission: Impossible - Fallout review - brilliant summer blockbusterMonday, 23 July 2018
This is the second Mission: Impossible movie written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie, the first time any director has been called back for an encore on the series. He did a smart job on 2015’s Rogue Nation, but this time he has pulled out... Read more... |
