20th century
Britten 100: Birthday Concert, Union Chapel/A Life in Pictures, National Portrait GallerySaturday, 23 November 2013
“Translated Daughter, come down and startle/Composing mortals with immortal fire.” So W H Auden invokes heavenly Cecilia, patron saint of music, and it seems she did just that with Benjamin Britten, who set Auden’s text for unaccompanied choir and... Read more... |
Remembering TavenerTuesday, 19 November 2013
You may have noticed an unholy silence from theartsdesk in the immediate aftermath of Sir John Tavener’s death a week ago today, just under three months short of his 70th birthday. Three of us in the classical team felt we just didn’t know his music... Read more... |
Boris Giltburg, Queen Elizabeth HallFriday, 15 November 2013
Among the diaspora of younger-generation Russian or Russian-trained pianists, there are at least four whose intellect and poetry match their technique. Three whose craft was honed at the Moscow or St Petersburg Conservatories – Yevgeny Sudbin,... Read more... |
Jerusalem Quartet, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore HallWednesday, 13 November 2013
A previous visit to the Wigmore Hall saw the Jerusalem Quartet make headlines for all the wrong reasons, after political protestors disrupted the live-broadcast concert. Last night however all was mercifully calm and music-focused for the start of... Read more... |
Marc-André Hamelin, Wigmore HallTuesday, 05 November 2013
French-Canadian pianist Hamelin has the technique and the stamina to play anything, which is why the note-crazy, obsessive “Night Wind” Sonata of Nikolay Medtner buzzed around at the heart of his recital. But between the proud resonance of its many... Read more... |
Mustonen, Nakariakov, BBCSO, Oramo, BarbicanSunday, 03 November 2013
This was Sakari Oramo's first concert with the BBC Symphony Orchestra since taking over as chief conductor. Of course he knows the orchestra well already, but it was important to make this a good ’un, and so it was.It opened with the world premiere... Read more... |
Wozzeck, Royal OperaFriday, 01 November 2013
You could hardly ask for a better cast than the one assembled for this short run of Wozzeck at the Royal Opera House: Simon Keenlyside in the title role, Karita Mattila, John Tomlinson, Mark Elder in the pit. And at a top price of £65, with many... Read more... |
Kadouch, Vincent, BBC Singers, BBCSO, Minkowski, BarbicanSunday, 27 October 2013
Back at the Barbican for a new season after a Far Eastern tour, the BBC Symphony Orchestra returned to pull off a characteristic stunt, a generous four-work programme featuring at least one piece surely no-one in the audience woud have heard live... Read more... |
Greek, Music Theatre Wales, Linbury Studio TheatreTuesday, 22 October 2013
“Fancy my mum? I’d rather go down on Hitler.” When the verbal violence of Steven Berkoff meets Mark-Anthony Turnage’s musical iconoclasm, the result is unlike any Oedipus story you’ve ever heard. Well, except for the shagging his mum bit. That’s... Read more... |
BBC Singers, Endymion, Hill, Milton CourtWednesday, 16 October 2013
Milton Court’s new concert hall is a mighty small space, but the BBC Singers under their chief conductor David Hill were determined to launch their residency there with a musical epic of world events from Genesis to the post-nuclear era. And they... Read more... |
Madam Butterfly, English National OperaTuesday, 15 October 2013
When the going gets tough, wheel out a crowd-pleaser. Even by its own volatile standards English National Opera has had a poor start to its autumn season, with productions of Fidelio and Die Fledermaus that seem destined to join the company’s ever-... Read more... |
Roots, Donmar WarehouseWednesday, 09 October 2013
British theatre is obsessed with the new, with novelty. And one of the obvious casualties of this is old plays that are not by Ibsen or Chekhov. Plays that feature in every history of British theatre, such as Arnold Wesker’s 1959 classic, Roots,... Read more... |
