Mendelssohn
Classical CDs Weekly: Harald Genzmer, Mendelssohn, Nicholas PhanSaturday, 22 April 2017
Harald Genzmer: Music for Trautonium Peter Pichler (mixture trautonium) (Paladino Music)The trautonium is described here as “the instrument of a lone man”. In this case, one Oskar Sala, who spent his long musical life associated with this... Read more... |
Dego, CBSO, Rustioni, Symphony Hall, BirminghamThursday, 09 March 2017
Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari has never quite been a one-work composer. No points for knowing the fizzy overture to his delightful 1909 pro-smoking comedy Il segreto di Susanna; quite a few more if you know the whole opera. Extra credit for being able to hum... Read more... |
Best of 2016: ClassicalWednesday, 28 December 2016
Revelations in the classical year never stop coming. Even the week before Christmas yielded two performances as good as you're going to get: the sheer effervescence and light-flourishing of Lucy Crowe in ecstatic Bach and Mozart with La Nuova Musica... Read more... |
Kanneh-Mason, Fantasia Orchestra, Fetherstonhaugh, St Gabriel's PimlicoWednesday, 21 December 2016
Sheku Kanneh-Mason isn't just BBC Young Musician 2016 - he's the year's top player in my books, a master at any level. Despite a contract with Decca, starting with the Shostakovich First Cello Concerto he played in the competition finale, he looks... Read more... |
Ehnes, Hallé, Elder, Heyward, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterFriday, 11 November 2016
Two things to note in Thursday’s Hallé performance at the Bridgewater Hall: the debut in the Manchester main series of their highly talented new assistant conductor, Jonathon Heyward, and another stride along the road towards the Hallé/Elder... Read more... |
10 Questions for Conductor Sir John Eliot GardinerSunday, 16 October 2016
The Lobgesang "lies very near my heart," wrote Mendelssohn. And the composer was so self-critical that the published order of his symphonies bears no resemblance to their composition: this "Hymn of Praise", known as the Second, was the penultimate... Read more... |
Hunt, London Firebird Orchestra, Bloxham, St Paul's Covent GardenWednesday, 12 October 2016
It's harder for young professional musicians to be judged in standard repertoire – the very greatest music, in short – than to make their mark tackling the unknown in a wacky venue. High levels of energy and technical skill married to... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the D-Marin Festival: Turkish poetry in music, Bach at sunriseTuesday, 06 September 2016
Istanbul six weeks before the failed coup, the south-west coast of Turkey six weeks after: what's the difference? None that I could see; once past the Turkish Airlines flights, with literature and screen full of the "People's Victory", there was no... Read more... |
Prom 9: Feola, Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, RhorerSaturday, 23 July 2016
It's never easy readjusting to the weird and sometimes wonderful acoustics of Albert's colosseum at Proms time, least of all when the first thing you hear there comes from a period-instrument band. Tuning in to Jérémie Rhorer's Le Cercle de l'... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: MacMillan, Mendelssohn, Mozart, TchaikovskySaturday, 09 July 2016
James MacMillan: Since it was the day of Preparation Hebrides Ensemble/William Conway, with Brindley Sherratt (bass), Synergy Vocals (Delphian)A follow-up to James MacMillan's St John Passion, Since it was the day of Preparation tells the story of... Read more... |
East Neuk Festival 2016Friday, 08 July 2016
All the best festivals develop organically, with a guiding hand from the best directors. When I first came to the East Neuk Festival two years ago, on its 10th anniversary, it was already a special case, thriving on the spirit of place and including... Read more... |
Haïm: In the Light of a Violin, The Print RoomWednesday, 15 June 2016
On the face of it, there is nothing in this tightly focused little piece that says anything new about the Holocaust. The plight of a poor Jewish boy unfortunate enough to be growing up in 1930s Poland is dismally familiar. The story of life-... Read more... |
