Finland
Currie, LPO, Vänskä, Royal Festival HallThursday, 19 April 2012
A mischievous part of me firmly believes that from the mountain of dubious art works produced in the world since the 1980s, the most dubious of all have been the percussion concertos. I know I’m being somewhat harsh, for I’ve thrilled along with... Read more... |
CD: Huoratron - CryptocracyWednesday, 18 April 2012
Anyone remember gabber? It was a moment in the mid-Nineties when Dutch and New York dance music went as fast and loud as it could. In retrospect it was a bizarre anomaly but achieved brief cult popularity combining puerile juvenility, punk, avant-... Read more... |
Finnish exchange programme hits theatresMonday, 09 April 2012The Pleasance Theatre and Finland’s ACE Production are collaborating on an exchange programme for British theatres. ACE first came to Britain for 2010’s Edinburgh Festival and began talks with Anthony Alderson, director of The Pleasance Theatre,... Read more... |
Le HavreThursday, 05 April 2012
“Feel good” is a description applied far too frequently in reviews, often to movies which are formulaic and saccharine in the extreme. However, Le Havre is a film that’s begging to be described as just that, though it’s far from conventional or... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Estonia: Tallinn Music WeekThursday, 05 April 2012
It began with a warning. Opening the fourth Tallinn Music Week, Estonia’s President Toomas Hendrik Ilves cautioned, “In a free society, it’s risk-free. In an un-free society, it’s not risk-free. It’s not all fun.” From behind a hotel conference room... Read more... |
Finnish oddball circus tours in JuneMonday, 19 March 2012Finland’s Race Horse Company returns to the UK with a circus spectacular Petit Mal, a success on its first visit here two years ago. The tour starts at Stratford Circus, London on 1 & 2 June, then visits Oxford's Playhouse and Poole Lighthouse,... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Oslo: by:Larm Festival 2012 and the Nordic Music PrizeWednesday, 22 February 2012
Although the four days of Norway’s 15th by:Larm Festival were dominated by the presentation of the second annual Nordic Music Prize, there were plenty of other distractions: a sobering tour of Norwegian black metal’s infamous sites, a talk by... Read more... |
2011: Tintin, Tallinn and a Year of SurprisesTuesday, 27 December 2011
The surprises linger longest. The things you’re not prepared for, the things of which you’ve got little foreknowledge. Lykke Li’s Wounded Rhymes was amazing, and she was equally astonishing live, too. Fleet Foxes's Helplessness Blues was more than a... Read more... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Saraste, Barbican HallSaturday, 17 December 2011
Is it ever a good idea to programme two symphonies by one composer in a single concert? Maverick Valery Gergiev is likely to stand alone in applying the rule to Mahler. Yet curiously his Prom marathon of two big instalments made more sense as stages... Read more... |
Sibelius's Eighth: pages from a lost symphony?Friday, 18 November 2011
The rest, it seems, is not to remain quite silence from the 32 years Jean Sibelius lived on after completing his last major work, the astonishing incidental music for a production of The Tempest in 1925. There are a handful of smaller-scale pieces,... Read more... |
CD: The dø - Both Ways Open JawsSunday, 13 November 2011
It’s pronounced doh, like Homer Simpson’s favourite exclamation. Although The dø aren’t yellow cartoon characters, they edge towards the caricature with songs like “Gonna be Sick!” and “Smash Them All (Night Visitors)”. Their art pop has a slight... Read more... |
Komsi, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oramo, Barbican HallSaturday, 29 October 2011
With Riccardo Chailly's Leipzig Beethoven series well into its capacious stride, another cycle of symphonies keeping unusual company begins. This one featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra will take longer and features six conductors, four of them... Read more... |
