Reviews
Reissue CDs Weekly: Lust for LifeSunday, 19 June 2016
Punk rock, or what’s touted as punk rock, is practically inescapable right now. In London, a series of events tagged as Punk.London: 40 Years of Subversive Culture includes concerts by reanimated bands, exhibitions and film seasons. Backers include... Read more... |
Don Giovanni, Classical Opera, Page, Cadogan HallSaturday, 18 June 2016
Mozart operas on period instruments – it’s hardly a new idea, but it’s still the exception rather than the rule. The 18th–century sound has a lot to offer in Don Giovanni, as Ian Page and his Classical Opera Company demonstrated this evening. Clear... Read more... |
Eurotrash, Channel 4Saturday, 18 June 2016
It was an exhumation waiting to happen. As the UK ponders trashing Europe, Eurotrash was summoned from the grave to remind voters what they’ll be missing if enough Brits put an X in the exit box. The Europe of Eurotrash is not grey suits and... Read more... |
Cottier Chamber Project 2016, GlasgowSaturday, 18 June 2016
It should have been a complete disaster. Not announcing your festival’s programme until barely a week before it started ought to have guaranteed that nobody knew about it – no press, no audiences, other plans made, other things booked.But still they... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beshevli, Gershwin, Gilbert & SullivanSaturday, 18 June 2016
Ilya Beshevli: Wanderer (Village Green)Siberian musician Ilya Beshevli's background will resonate with anyone who's resented learning an instrument. The son of a composer and a musicologist, Beshevli grew to dislike his enforced piano lessons,... Read more... |
Richard III, Almeida TheatreFriday, 17 June 2016
"I can add colours to the chameleon," Richard III remarks of himself early in his anguished, marauding ascent to the throne, and the description could equally apply to the electrifying actor, Ralph Fiennes, who is London's latest hedgehog/dog/toad/... Read more... |
The Switch House, Tate ModernFriday, 17 June 2016
Here comes the Switch House. The 10-story new build attached to the Gilbert Scott Bankside power station that was the first instalment of Tate Modern in 2000 opened to the public this weekend. Tate Modern’s expansion became almost a necessity as the... Read more... |
Tale of TalesFriday, 17 June 2016
The earliest known versions of Rapunzel and Cinderella appeared in an Italian compendium of fairytales known as the Pentamerone. They were collated by Neapolitan courtier Giambattista Basile and published in the 1630s after his death. The 50-strong... Read more... |
Multi-Story Orchestra, Stark, Spitalfields Music Summer FestivalFriday, 17 June 2016
Crazy-faced space-hopper, playmobil fireman, marble run: toys from my own childhood, staring at me now from out of glass cases, alongside an 18th century marionette, thread-bare rocking horses and a headless Georgian doll. This concert in the Museum... Read more... |
Marx: Genius of the Modern World, BBC FourFriday, 17 June 2016
An old subversive Soviet joke has Karl Marx coming back from hell, facing enormous crowds of very unhappy people and telling them, "Oh I'm so sorry – it was only an idea." But what an idea and ideas, as Bettany Hughes's film reminded us. She... Read more... |
Karagula, StyxThursday, 16 June 2016
Polymath playwright Philip Ridley is endlessly inventive. Having written a couple of exciting pieces of bravura storytelling – Tender Napalm (2012) and Dark Vanilla Jungle (2014) – he went on to pen a political comedy – Radiant Vermin (recently... Read more... |
Be With Me Now, Britten Studio, SnapeThursday, 16 June 2016
As the hand-held credits popped up on screen to pianist and musical director Manoj Kamps's superb quartet arrangement of Mozart's Magic Flute Overture, the European Union's Culture Programme logo brought a spontaneous burst of applause. Not the norm... Read more... |
