Classical music
Unlikely soulmates: Beyoncé and Turnage hammer out that ringThursday, 02 September 2010Did anyone find the aged-rocker thrash of Mark Anthony Turnage's new work at the Proms, Hammered Out - a bit of a disappointment to Edward Seckerson - oddly familiar? This brilliant YouTube remix will tell you why. And for all the orchestral flash... Read more... |
Sarah Willis, First Lady of the French HornThursday, 02 September 2010
No woman has ever achieved a higher profile on the French horn than Sarah Willis. Why? It's not as if she is a renowned soloist. But she is the first and only woman to join the brass section of the world's most celebrated and widely followed... Read more... |
Gerhaher, Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Blomstedt, Royal Albert HallThursday, 02 September 2010
Yet again I leave a Herbert Blomstedt concert with a sense of wonderment and bemusement. Wonderment at the extraordinary music-making that this man is capable of. Bemusement as to why he is not better known, his talents not more widely recognised,... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Presteigne Festival of Music and the ArtsWednesday, 01 September 2010
The Presteigne Festival, which has just ended after a packed long weekend of events of various shapes and sizes, is a music fest with a profile very much its own. Presteigne is one of those enchanting pocket county towns that proliferate along the... Read more... |
Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Cadogan HallWednesday, 01 September 2010
Australia has many fine exports – wine, women, gap year anecdotes – but increasingly it is her orchestras that are setting the standard. With a magnificent Proms performance from the Australian Youth Orchestra still fresh in the ears (as well as a... Read more... |
Vogt, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Gardiner, Royal Albert HallMonday, 30 August 2010
Short of rolling around the podium like a delirious pig in a mudbath, Sir John Eliot Gardiner couldn't have hidden his enjoyment of the warm, plush sounds and well-upholstered vibrato of this wonderfully old-fashioned orchestra, the Czech... Read more... |
Shaham, Minnesota Orchestra, Vänskä, Royal Albert HallSunday, 29 August 2010
A great deal of scepticism greeted the release of a new Beethoven symphony cycle from Osmo Vänskä and the Minnesota Orchestra in the mid-2000s. Would this lot really be able say anything that hadn't already been said by the hundred or so other... Read more... |
theartsdesk from Colombo: A Pianist of the WorldSunday, 29 August 2010
Since winning the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka Concerto Competition at the tender (and record-setting) age of 16, Tanya Ekanayaka has become one of Sri Lanka’s pre-eminent concert pianists. Last month she was the first from her country ever to... Read more... |
Weilerstein, Minnesota Orchestra, Vänskä, Royal Albert HallSaturday, 28 August 2010
One usually has to wait until the fourth movement of a Bruckner symphony before one gets a decent, foot-tappin', knee-slappin' polka to dance to. But at last night's Prom Osmo Vänskä was jitterbugging - and, I think, even moonwalking - from the off... Read more... |
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ticciati, Usher Hall, EdinburghSaturday, 28 August 2010
Which of the following has the thorniest dissonance: an early 18th-century dance-drama by Rebel, a symphony by Bizet, a concerto by Poulenc or a new work by South African composer Kevin Volans? If you think it's a trick question, you'll guess the... Read more... |
Shaham, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Robertson, Royal Albert HallFriday, 27 August 2010
When Mark-Anthony Turnage presents a piece called Hammered Out, that’s pretty much what you expect to hear. Prior to starting work on this co-commission between BBC Radio 3 and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Turnage was quoted as saying, “I don’t... Read more... |
Sydney Symphony, Ashkenazy, Grimaud, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 24 August 2010
To be interestingly disappointed isn’t bad - it’s being uninterestingly disappointed that is. This was an intriguing Prom with a full house, possibly because of Hélène Grimaud’s presence in the Ravel piano concerto, as well as Vladimir Ashkenazy on... Read more... |
