Haydn
Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead online review – a grab bag of players’ favouritesSaturday, 15 May 2021
The Royal Northern Sinfonia handed its players artistic control of the programme for this livestream from the Sage, Gateshead and if the result lacked coherence it certainly had the variety and diversity missing from the Wigmore Hall Nash Ensemble... Read more... |
Castalian Quartet, Stoller Hall, Manchester online review - mercurial playing fits a varied programmeFriday, 09 April 2021
The Polyphonic Concert Club is a collective of musicians – including Isata Kanneh-Mason and I Fagiolini – offering recorded chamber recitals released weekly through March and April. Like the festivals of Voces8 (I reviewed their Christmas series)... Read more... |
Two LSO concerts on Marquee TV review - vibrant triptychesFriday, 05 March 2021
In amongst the heavy-hearted duty of supporting orchestras by watching their concert streamings – not something I’d do by choice – there are two real joys here. One is the discovery of Austrian composer Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony of 1916. The... Read more... |
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Emelyanychev online review – versatile virtuosity from EdinburghMonday, 08 February 2021
Seated at the harpsichord, Maxim Emelyanychev introduces this concert in charmingly fractured English. “Hello from Queen’s Hall in Edimbourg, today with chamber group of musicians from Scottish Chamber Orchestra…” But he falters, the camera cuts... Read more... |
City of London Sinfonia, Southwark Cathedral review – towards Haydn’s last symphonyWednesday, 18 November 2020
Nearly two weeks into the latest lockdown, and already I feel nostalgic about the last day of freedom. You should too, just watching the film released last night of the CLS’s most recent happening in Southwark Cathedral. It’s of the evening... Read more... |
The music of isolation: conductor Ian Page on 18th century 'Sturm und Drang'Saturday, 06 June 2020
My latest recording with The Mozartists is the first in a seven-volume series [reviewed by Graham Rickson in his Classical CDs Weekly column] exploring the so-called “Sturm und Drang” (literally translated, “storm and stress”) movement that swept... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berlioz, Markus Reuter, The MozartistsSaturday, 06 June 2020
Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Rêverie et caprice, La mort d'Ophélie, Sara la baigneuse Utah Symphony/Thierry Fischer, with Philippe Quint (violin) (Hyperion)Just two big symphonies by French composers can be counted as standard repertoire.... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Poulenc, Simon HöfeleSaturday, 28 March 2020
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier George Lepauw (piano) (Orchid Classics)How a pianist tackles the opening C major Prelude of Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier can often set the tone for what follows. You’d expect Glenn Gould’s quirky traversal to... Read more... |
Classical music/Opera direct to home: 1 - Budapest's Quarantine SoiréesWednesday, 18 March 2020
The great Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau noted of 1920s Berlin that "itimes of trouble, people seek a better life in culture". But what if that culture can no longer be accessed live? Earlier this week theartsdesk brought you reports of two... Read more... |
ECO, Zacharias, Fairfield Halls Croydon review - green-fingered HaydnWednesday, 13 November 2019
Switch off for a phrase or two and it’s easy to miss the point in a Haydn symphony that makes each one of them odd and unique. In No. 74, played last night with understated class by the English Chamber Orchestra, that point occurs in the first... Read more... |
'These were the quartets that made us fall in love with the genre': Dudok Quartet Amsterdam on HaydnSaturday, 02 November 2019
As a string quartet, it’s not easy to distinguish yourselves from others. There are so many string quartets playing the great repertoire, and the level of quartets has never been as high as it is now. Everybody is trying to be unique.We are all part... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Haydn, Mahler, Matthew WhitesideSaturday, 02 November 2019
Haydn: Opus 20 String Quartets, Nos 2, 3 & 5 Dudok Quartet Amsterdam (Resonus)When discussing Haydn’s music it's difficult to avoid using words like ‘elegant’, ‘witty’ and ‘brio’, but I'll do my best. The writer E.T.A Hoffman should... Read more... |
