Classical music
Hough, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, Royal Festival HallMonday, 17 January 2011
Who knew the changeover of the EU Presidency could be this much fun? Amid the formal bowing and scraping at the Royal Festival Hall bunfights last night that signalled that the Hungarians were now at the tiller of this sinking political ship were... Read more... |
Leonidas Kavakos, Enrico Pace, Wigmore HallMonday, 17 January 2011
No doubt about it, Leonidas Kavakos is one of the world's top 10 live-wire violinists. But here in London he seems to have sold himself a bit short recently with a less than great concerto repertoire (Korngold, Szymanowski's Second). Korngold... Read more... |
Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn GouldSunday, 16 January 2011
The classical-music industry loves dead icons; witness the endless reissuing and remarketing of recordings by Kathleen Ferrier and Jacqueline du Pré. Canadian pianist Glenn Gould died from a stroke at the age of 50 in 1982 and his seminal Bach discs... Read more... |
Christine Rice, Roger Vignoles, Wigmore HallSunday, 16 January 2011
The Sunday Afternoon Song Recitals are a wonderful Wigmore tradition. Filling in that tricky gap between lengthy weekend lunch and early school-night supper, they offer a chunky one-act programme, generous but without the fuss and faff of an... Read more... |
Barbican Centre, 2011 SeasonSaturday, 15 January 2011
In 2011 the Barbican offers eminent theatre directors Robert LePage and Peter Brook along with the diversions of London International Mime Festival. Music includes composer focuses on Unsuk Chin, Brian Ferneyhough and Peter Eötvös, and high-profile... Read more... |
Mainetti, Perianes, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pons, BarbicanSaturday, 15 January 2011
This was a programme born for marketing cliché: banish the winter blues by bathing in Latin American/Iberian warmth. And it turned out to be true, by virtue of an unexpected watershed. How did the BBC Symphony strings manage to be first among the... Read more... |
Charles Hazlewood On Music In BristolFriday, 14 January 2011
Next Friday, my amazing period-instrument orchestra, Army of Generals, begins a new residency at St George’s Bristol. The aim of this unconventional and high-octane series of concerts - which will be performed by what I refer to as my crack squad of... Read more... |
Iestyn Davies, Richard Egarr Wigmore HallThursday, 13 January 2011
Not a lot of swooning goes on at the Wigmore Hall. Nor does it seem the kind of institution to endorse rapturous wailing, beating of the breast, or the throwing of either flowers or underwear. All of which leaves one with the problem of how to... Read more... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra, John Wilson, BarbicanMonday, 10 January 2011
Once upon a time, composers ran Hollywood. As conductor John Wilson reminded us last night, 44-time Oscar nominee and movie composer Alfred Newman became so powerful as second in command at MGM that he had two security guards posted at his office... Read more... |
National Youth Orchestra/Kristjan Järvi, Leeds Town HallSunday, 09 January 2011
A glance at the programme hinted at the identity of the orchestra: you don’t perform Prokofiev’s Scythian Suite and Janáček’s Sinfonietta in the same evening unless you’ve industrial quantities of brass and percussion to spare. This was riveting... Read more... |
Mozart Unwrapped, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings PlaceThursday, 06 January 2011
Which he filled, as it turned out, with mature aplomb - no tricks, no wild extremes, but plenty of colour, space and that rare knack of finding the right tempo at any point which is the instinctive gift of the born Mozart interpreter. The... Read more... |
On the fifth day of Mozart...Wednesday, 05 January 2011
...your true love might do worse than bung over a brace of concertos. Which is what BBC Radio 3 is doing on "piano day" as it nears the halfway mark of its 12-day Mozart marathon. Is it a good idea? Does any composer, even Bach, stand up to the... Read more... |
