chamber music
theartsdesk Q&A: Abel SelaocoeFriday, 23 September 2022
South-African cellist Abel Selaocoe is about to begin his third major concert in London in under a year. As the support artist for kora player Ballake Sissoko and cellist Vincent Segal at the Roundhouse in January, he received a lengthy ovation for... Read more... |
Leonskaja, Staatskapelle Streichquartett, Wigmore Hall review - Brahms the chameleonWednesday, 21 September 2022
Epic-lyric magician Brahms wears a very adaptable garment for certain masterpieces: black on the outside with fur trimming, reversible to show its exquisitely wrought, variegated silk patterns on the inside.For the celebrated G minor Piano Quartet... Read more... |
Duval, Isserlis, Beatson, Fidelio Cafe review - in seventh heaven with the greatsWednesday, 24 August 2022
It feels like a decade, but only two and a bit years have passed since Steven Isserlis stepped out in front of a small but very much live audience at what was then the Fidelio Orchestra Cafe in July 2020. Three hundred or so Fidelio events later, he... Read more... |
The Audition review - love and hate at music schoolSaturday, 02 April 2022
If Roman Polanski had directed Whiplash, something like this study of music’s psychological cost might have resulted. Ina Weisse’s film is more incremental and naturalistic, as violin teacher Anna (Nina Hoss) gives special attention to teenage... Read more... |
Jerusalem Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - shock and sophistication in ideally-proportioned BeethovenFriday, 01 April 2022
Three Beethoven quartets, early, middle and late, in a single evening – inevitably as part of a cycle, like the Jerusalems’ Wigmore Hall triptych last night – is demanding on the audience, supremely tough on the players.We could have left this... Read more... |
Russians and friends play on for UkraineWednesday, 16 March 2022
National sensitivities are running understandably high right now in the thick of an ever-escalating aggression. What a shame that the Southbank Centre has excluded Russian artists from performing alongside British and Ukrainian performers to bring a... Read more... |
Smetana Trio, Wigmore Hall / Minerva Piano Trio, Christ Church Kensington review - spirits of delightTuesday, 16 November 2021
Comparisons might have been odious between three of the world's most cultured players – pianist Jitka Cechová, violinist Jan Talich and cellist Jan Páleníček of the Smetana Trio – and the young, British-based Minerva Piano Trio (Annie Yim... Read more... |
Takács Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - intimate letters and holy songsTuesday, 09 November 2021
The Takács Quartet is hard to pin down. The group was founded in 1975 in Budapest, but since 1983 has been based in Boulder, Colorado. Cellist András Fejér is the only remaining founding member, and the violist, Richard O’Neill, only joined in 2020... Read more... |
CBSO Quartet, Hockley Social Club, Birmingham review - unveiling of innovative new partnershipSaturday, 23 October 2021
Kicking off a brand new partnership between the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Hockley Social Club, this first ever Symphonic Session saw a string quartet from the CBSO take centre stage at Birmingham’s latest street-food venue, Hockley... Read more... |
Clements Prize, Conway Hall review - newly-written string trios in competitionMonday, 18 October 2021
The Conway Hall in London has hosted chamber music concerts since it was built in 1929, and for 40 years this included a composition prize, in abeyance since the late 1970s. This has now been revived by the hall’s enterprising director of music,... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Two Moors Festival - birdsong, gongs and nocturnes in Dartmoor churchesThursday, 07 October 2021
First came the difficult decision: whether to experience performances by great musicians whose work I already knew in the second, Exmoor-based weekend of the Two Moors Festival, or to go for enticing programmes by others whom I’d never experienced... Read more... |
Elisabeth Leonskaja / Goldmund Quartet, Edinburgh International Festival review - established and emerging stars shine brightSaturday, 21 August 2021
A gem in Edinburgh International Festival’s classical music programming has always been the Queen’s Hall series. Hosting some of the finest chamber musicians on the international stage, that venue has seen countless incredible, more intimate... Read more... |
