composers
Roger Scruton: Music as an Art review - how to listen?Sunday, 19 August 2018
Hegel, Kant, David Hume, Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, Leibniz are all adduced, referred to, and paraphrased, and that’s just for starters. Add Rameau, Schubert, Beethoven, Benjamin Britten and the contemporary composer David Matthews (who is also a... Read more... |
Prom 16, Elder, Hallé – reason yoked to magic on one enchanted eveningFriday, 27 July 2018
Beguiling echoes, patterns and symmetries accompanied the Hallé on this Proms journey through the enchanted forests of orchestral sound. Those mellow but irresistible horns that began the evening with the ethereal chug of the pilgrim’s hymn from the... Read more... |
Ariadne auf Naxos, Opera Holland Park - stylish staging, world-class singingWednesday, 18 July 2018
"When the new god approaches, we surrender, struck dumb". Especially if, for the singer of those words, popular entertainer Zerbinetta, the “new god” takes the shape of same-sex love. Director and designer Antony McDonald locates the real “mystery... Read more... |
Prom 1, BBCSO, Oramo review – spectacular First Night of the PromsSaturday, 14 July 2018
The First Night of the Proms is always a tricky one to programme, bringing together themes of the season, perhaps a new work and, most importantly, a grand finale. This year’s Prom No. 1 ticked all the boxes, and without feeling like pick-n-mix. It... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Handel, Holloway, Korngold, NielsenSaturday, 07 July 2018
Handel: Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo The Brook Street Band (Avie)A slimmed-down Brook Street Band give us nine of Handel's violin sonatas on this disc. Autograph manuscripts only survive for five of them, but the other four sound... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Martin, Martinů, Vivaldi, 4 Girls 4 HarpsSaturday, 16 June 2018
The Secret Mass: Choral works by Frank Martin and Bohuslav Martinů Danish National Vocal Ensemble/Marcus Creed (OUR Recordings)We're lucky to be able to hear Frank Martin’s Mass for two four-part choirs at all; this most fastidious and self-... Read more... |
CD: Gruff Rhys - BabelsbergWednesday, 06 June 2018
For his fifth solo album (not counting last year’s delayed soundtrack to Set Fire to the Stars) Welsh singer-songwriter and sometime Super Furry frontman Gruff Rhys inhabits an imaginary landscape in order to deal with issues that are all too real.... Read more... |
Picks of Brighton Festival 2018 by writer-director Neil BartlettThursday, 03 May 2018
Director, playwright and novelist Neil Bartlett has been making theatre and causing trouble since the 1980s. He made his name with a series of controversial stark naked performances staged in clubs and warehouses, then went on to... Read more... |
Ibragimova, Tiberghien, Wigmore Hall review – light, bright and melodic BrahmsSaturday, 21 April 2018
The Brahms violin sonatas make a perfect spring evening recital. The Second and Third were inspired by a summer retreat, but all three are light, bright and with direct melodic appeal. Violinist Alina Ibragimova and pianist Cédric Tiberghien... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Hans Abrahamsen, Lully, Strauss, Duo JatekokSaturday, 21 April 2018
Hans Abrahamsen String Quartets No. 1-4 Arditti String Quartet (Winter & Winter)The opening section of Danish composer Hans Abrahamsen’s 2012 String Quartet No. 4 is subtitled “light and airy”, and, aptly, the four strings produce extraordinary... Read more... |
Score review - breathless dash through music and filmThursday, 05 April 2018
The crucial yet almost indefinable role of music in film – it’s a subject ripe for exploration and celebration, from the musicological technicalities of leitmotifs and ostinatos, through to the colourful characters working to bring directors’... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Lūcija Garūta, Dag Wirén, Ruby HughesSaturday, 31 March 2018
Lūcija Garūta: Music for Piano Reinis Zariņš (piano), Liepāja Symphony Orchestra/Atvars Lakstīgala (LMIC/SKANI)The Latvian composer Lūcija Garūta (1902-1977) reached maturity in the early days of Latvian independence, a supremely talented... Read more... |
