contemporary classical
Radio Rewrite, Royal Festival Hall: The Rock ReviewWednesday, 06 March 2013
Like a piece of conceptual art, it may be the idea rather than the actual music that is the most significant thing about the world premiere last night of Steve Reich’s Radio Rewrite. There will be a hundred times more people discussing the fact... Read more... |
Total Immersion: Sounds from Japan, BarbicanMonday, 04 February 2013
“Improvisation? That?” whispered a Japanese lady to her friend at the end of the afternoon concert. She was making a good point. Half the performers in this programmed jam were glued to their scores. It was the low point of a mixed day at the... Read more... |
The Minotaur, Royal OperaFriday, 18 January 2013
Flesh-tearing, woman-raping, body-goring brute he may be, but he's misunderstood, that Minotaur. It's a bold argument to make, but this is the contention of Harrison Birtwistle and David Harsent's 2008 opera. They are aided by a surprisingly... Read more... |
Music of Today - November: Sonica, HCMF, Oliver Knussen, the Arditti Quartet and Heiner GoebbelsSunday, 02 December 2012
Arditti String Quartet, Wigmore Hall, 31 October ****November is always a good month for new music. This year saw the interest begin a day earlier. Whichever wag chose to hand over Halloween at the Wigmore Hall to two of the most uncompromising... Read more... |
The Yellow Sofa, Linbury Studio TheatreTuesday, 06 November 2012
At the heart of Julian Philips’ chamber opera The Yellow Sofa stands, perhaps unsurprisingly, a beautiful antique yellow chaise longue that bears witness to all the adultery, money grabbing and revenge that a 1880s Lisbon household has to offer; but... Read more... |
Viscera/Infra/Fool's Paradise, Royal BalletSunday, 04 November 2012
A new Liam Scarlett ballet has become an event, even as, in this case, Scarlett’s home company, the Royal Ballet, is recreating a work he choreographed last January for Miami City Ballet – the young choreographer’s first international commission.In... Read more... |
Albert Herring, English Touring OperaFriday, 05 October 2012
Albert Herring probably doesn’t make the top five most performed of Britten’s operas, yet is easily the best known work in English Touring Opera’s brave Autumn season – the other two are Viktor Ullmann’s The Emperor of Atlantis and Peter Maxwell... Read more... |
In a Locked Room/ Ghost Patrol, Linbury Studio TheatreMonday, 01 October 2012
There's no guaranteed route to success with contemporary opera but, ever since Nixon in China, topicality and realism have become the most favoured and trusted paths to some kind of favourable outcome. Two chamber operas, receiving their English... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, PetrenkoFriday, 24 August 2012
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Ninth Symphony, completed in 2012 and heard in London for the first time in this concert, is dedicated to the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee. Those are not words to strike eager anticipation into my heart , though I’m happy... Read more... |
BBC Proms: City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, NelsonsWednesday, 22 August 2012
It is a rare treat for Londoners to have the CBSO with Andris Nelsons in town, and the Albert Hall was, if not fully sold out, then certainly well stocked. It would be fair to assume that the main draw was Shostakovich’s giant and much-debated... Read more... |
BBC Proms: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim (Concert Five)/ Members of the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra, RothSaturday, 28 July 2012
And so we came to the Ninth. But wasn't it meant to be the only work on the programme? Why then was I hearing Boulez? A mishap: the final movement saw the quartet of soloists fall apart so comprehensively that, momentarily, it began to... Read more... |
BBC Proms: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Barenboim (Concert Four)/ Kronos QuartetWednesday, 25 July 2012
Much has been written about how old-fashioned Daniel Barenboim's Beethoven cycle feels. Yet what can seem backward-looking is in fact a perfect reflection of Barenboim's personality. Each and every symphony appears with a swagger in its step and a... Read more... |
