Chopin
Grosvenor, Doric String Quartet, Milton Court review – a night to rememberTuesday, 12 February 2019
Imagine for a moment that you are at, say, the Derby. It’s pretty good. But then in flies Pegasus, the mythical winged horse. What happens?We need to talk about these rare moments of almost inexplicable magic in concerts, because unless I’m... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Adventures in Sound, Tora Augestad, Ashley FrippSaturday, 02 February 2019
Adventures In Sound (él records)Dipping in and out of this highly desirable box set recalls 1950s sci-fi visions of the future, looking forward to a time when we'd all be driving flying cars and living under a benevolent one-world government.... Read more... |
Mahan Esfahani / Richard Goode, Wigmore Hall review - clarity and contrast from two keyboard mastersTuesday, 18 December 2018
Two successive nights, two contrasted solo keyboard recitals at the Wigmore Hall: not great for the knees but marvellous for the soul. On Saturday the Tehran-born, US-raised harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani continued a mammoth project: he has been... Read more... |
Katharine Kilalea: OK, Mr Field review - architecture and alienation on the Cape Town coastSunday, 24 June 2018
Modern novels with an architectural theme have, to say the least, a mixed pedigree. At their finest, as in Thomas Bernhard’s Correction, the fluidity and ambiguity of prose fiction mitigates, even undermines, the obsessive planner’s or designer’s... Read more... |
Chopin's Piano, Tiberghien, Kildea, Brighton Festival review - mumbled words, magical musicThursday, 17 May 2018
First the good news: Cédric Tiberghien, master of tone colour, lucidity and expressive intent, playing the 24 Chopin Preludes plus the Bach C major and the C minor Nocturne in the red-gold dragons' den of the Royal Pavilion's Music Room. Then the... Read more... |
Nikolai Lugansky / Pavel Kolesnikov, Wigmore Hall review - lucidity and depth from two master pianistsTuesday, 01 May 2018
Reaching for philosophical terms seems appropriate enough for two deep thinkers among Russian pianists (strictly speaking, Kolesnikov is Siberian-born, London-based). In what Kant defined as the phenomenal world, the tangible circumstances, there... Read more... |
Alexander Melnikov, Wigmore Hall review - three pianos, four monsterworksThursday, 18 January 2018
Living-museum recitals on a variety of historic instruments pose logistical problems. Telling The Arts Desk about his award-nominated CD of mostly 19th-century works for horns and pianos, Alec Frank-Gemmill remarked on the near-impossibility of... Read more... |
Ivana Gavrić, Wigmore Hall review - more earth than airFriday, 29 December 2017
Power and intelligence combined make Sarajevo-born British pianist Ivana Gavrić stand out from the crowd. Bass lines are clear and strong; right-hand melodies move in keenly articulated song. The first half of her recital progressed with well-... Read more... |
'Their DNA is forever ingrained in the keys' - Roman Rabinovich on playing composers' own pianosThursday, 09 November 2017
I was recently in the UK for some solo recitals and to make my debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. One of the highlights of the trip was playing a similar programme in two very different settings: first on some magnificent period... Read more... |
Dmitri Alexeev, St John's Smith Square review - a Titan at 70Friday, 03 November 2017
You won't have seen much of magisterial Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev recently, unless you happen to be a student at the Royal College of Music, where he is Professor of Advanced Piano Studies (they were out in force last night, cheering enough to... Read more... |
Leif Ove Andsnes, RFH review - interior magic from a master colouristWednesday, 01 November 2017
Such introspective subtlety might be mistaken for reticence. But from the rare instances when the Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes lets rip - and they're never forced - you know he's wielding his palette with both skill and intuition, waiting for... Read more... |
Roman Rabinovich, Hatchlands review - poetry from Chopin's very own Pleyel pianoThursday, 05 October 2017
What pianist wouldn't long to lay fingers on keyboards impregnated, as Roman Rabinovich put it in his introduction yesterday afternoon, with the DNAs of Haydn and Chopin? To take three of the 31 instruments in the astonishing Cobbe Collection at... Read more... |
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