Beethoven
Classical CDs: Microphones, mazurkas and mad scenesSaturday, 25 November 2023
Beethoven: Piano Concertos 1-5 Garrick Ohlsson (piano), Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra/Sir Donald Runnicles (Reference Recordings)This set would be an artistic treat had it been captured onto a couple of C90 cassettes with a boombox.... Read more... |
Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - championing the rich and rareFriday, 24 November 2023
Sir Mark Elder’s zest for exploring fresh territory with the forces of the Hallé is unquenched even in his final season as music director. And who better to introduce the Stabat Mater of Rossini – a late flowering of the operatic wizard’s powers –... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Suits, serenades and flared trousersFriday, 13 October 2023
Bach: Goldberg Variations Víkingur Ólafsson (piano) (DG)Bach Goldberg Variations Reimagined Rachel Podger/Brecon Baroque (Channel Classics)It feels like ages since I’ve listened to Bach’s Goldberg Variations. I’m more team piano than team... Read more... |
Kim, BBC Philharmonic, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the sound of brassMonday, 09 October 2023
Ben Gernon’s relationship with the BBC Philharmonic has been a richly rewarding one over the close-on seven years since his appointment as their principal guest conductor began, and indeed subsequently. The impression gained on his first... Read more... |
Aimard, Concerto Budapest SO, Keller, Cadogan Hall review - lords of the danceSaturday, 16 September 2023
The Zurich International series at Cadogan Hall has turned into a horizon-expanding stage on which to catch those visiting orchestras that don’t always claim top billing in bigger venues. The hall’s welcoming acoustic shows off the sound and style... Read more... |
Castalian Quartet, Edinburgh International Festival 2023 review - nothing taken for grantedSaturday, 19 August 2023
This concert, the Edinburgh International Festival debut of the Castalian Quartet, almost didn’t happen due to the illness of their second violin, Daniel Roberts. Then, a couple of days ago, in stepped Yume Fujise, leader of the Kleio Quartet, to... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Microphones, Massachusetts and mountainsSaturday, 19 August 2023
Antal Doráti: The Mercury Masters – The Mono Recordings (Decca Eloquence)The great Hungarian conductor Antal Doráti (1906-1988) enjoyed a long and prolific recording career, stretching from the mid-1940s to the early 1980s. This beautifully... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Penitence, pipe smoking and soot spritesSaturday, 05 August 2023
Otto Klemperer: The Warner Classics Remastered Edition (Warner Classics)The young Otto Klemperer’s conducting career was encouraged by no less than Gustav Mahler, Klemperer’s meteoric rise leading him to become director of Berlin’s Kroll Opera... Read more... |
Prom 14: Lisiecki, BBCSO, Chan - fine textures and subtle delightsWednesday, 26 July 2023
One of the undoubted highlights of Prom 14 was unprogrammed – following his commanding performance of Beethoven’s third piano concerto, Jan Lisiecki returned to the stage to give an encore of Chopin’s Nocturne in E Flat, Opus 9 No 2.There was a rapt... Read more... |
Prom 7: Urioste, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Otaka review – old friends, new worldsThursday, 20 July 2023
A full house, and television cameras: rarer events at the Proms than they used to be (or should be). Both lent a sense of occasion to the BBC National Orchestra of Wales’s visit to the Royal Albert Hall with their Conductor Laureate, Tadaaki Otaka.... Read more... |
Benedetti, Kanneh-Mason, Grosvenor, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - gorgeous textures, starry soloistsMonday, 29 May 2023
What’s better than having a star soloist on the billing for a concert? Three star soloists! The Royal Scottish National Orchestra billed this concert as its “All Star Gala”, and that’s more than just a shrewd marketing move (though it was that: this... Read more... |
Grosvenor, Kanneh-Mason, Park, Hallé, Stasevska, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the factors that make for a full houseSaturday, 20 May 2023
What makes a classical box office draw these days? If there were a simple answer to that question, a lot of concert givers would be laughing all the way to the bank.Is it recognisability – artists whose names are familiar from big-viewing TV events... Read more... |
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