Classical music
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ibragimova, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - rarities, novelties and drumrollsFriday, 24 October 2025
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra punches well above its weight when it comes to guest artists, and it was a big thing for them to have someone of the status of Alina Ibragimova as both soloist and guest director for this concert.She directed Haydn’s... Read more... |
Bach’s B minor Mass, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin - everything human and divineSunday, 02 November 2025
The greatest procession of mass movements ever composed merits the best line-up of soloists, both vocal and instrumental, as well as the perfect ensemble – small in size, big and rich in sound where needed – and inspired direction. That it was... Read more... |
Kaploukhii, Greenwich Chamber Orchestra, Cutts, St James's Piccadilly review - promising young pianistSunday, 02 November 2025
To St James’s Piccadilly to hear the young pianist Misha Kaploukhii give an impressive performance of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, accompanied by the Greenwich Chamber Orchestra. Kaploukhii is a rising star, a postgraduate at the Royal College... Read more... |
Robin Holloway: Music's Odyssey review - lessons in compositionSaturday, 01 November 2025
Robin Holloway is a composer and, until his retirement in 2011, don at Cambridge, where he taught many of the leading British composers of the last half-century. He has also always written on music, including a long-standing column in The Spectator... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Wolf-pelts, clowns and social realismSaturday, 01 November 2025
Bliss: Miracle in the Gorbals, Metamorphic Variations BBC Philharmonic/Michael Seal (Chandos)We are coming towards the end of the year marking 50 years since the death of Arthur Bliss, and I’m pleased to have covered a number of live... Read more... |
Bizet in 150th anniversary year: rich and rare French offerings from Palazzetto Bru ZaneSaturday, 25 October 2025
Georges Bizet was born on this day in 1838. He died at the tragically early age of 36, 150 years ago, and the anniversary year has brought forth for the most part only multiple productions of Carmen, his greatest masterpiece, with a spattering of... Read more... |
Kilsby, Parkes, Sinfonia of London, Wilson, Barbican review - string things zing and sing in expert handsThursday, 23 October 2025
It was guaranteed: string masterpieces by Vaughan Williams, Britten and Elgar would be played and conducted at the very highest level by John Wilson and his Sinfonia of London.Would a rarity by Arthur Bliss and a slow movement from a Delius string... Read more... |
From Historical to Hip-Hop, Classically Black Music Festival, Kings Place review - a cluster of impressive stars for the futureTuesday, 21 October 2025
To hear Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason speaking live is to hear a woman who very much recognises that her lifelong mission to challenge the perception of who should play classical music is ongoing. Though she has given birth to seven children who have gone on... Read more... |
Shibe, LSO, Adès, Barbican review - gaudy and glorious new music alongside serene SibeliusMonday, 20 October 2025
Many orchestral concerts leaven two or three established classics with something new or unusual. The LSO reversed that formula at the Barbican last night, with three pieces written since 2000 offset by just one familiar item, Sibelius’s Third... Read more... |
Anja Mittermüller, Richard Fu, Wigmore Hall review - a glorious hall debutSunday, 19 October 2025
Helping to build the careers of superb young singers is what Wigmore Hall has done for decades: I still remember Olaf Bär’s debut in the hall in 1983, having won the Walther Gruner Lieder competition, and also Matthias Goerne’s in 1997.But... Read more... |
First Person: clarinettist Oliver Pashley on the new horizons of The Hermes Experiment's latest albumSaturday, 18 October 2025
“Why the name?” and “Why the instruments?” are the two most common things we get asked about our group. As a member of The Hermes Experiment, a quartet consisting of harp, clarinet, soprano and double bass, it’s perhaps understandable that these are... Read more... |
Gesualdo Passione, Les Arts Florissants, Amala Dior Company, Barbican review - inspired collaboration excavates the music's humanitySaturday, 18 October 2025
This powerful, austere collaboration between Les Arts Florissants and the Amala Dianor Company – presented as part of Dance Umbrella – excavated all the violence, grief and transcendence of the events surrounding Christ’s betrayal and crucifixion.... Read more... |
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