piano
The Risør Festival at the Wigmore HallSunday, 28 November 2010
A hell of a lot of talent was on display last night at the Wigmore Hall, where pianist Leif Ove Andsnes's home festival of Risør was stationed for the weekend. The big draw was a performance of The Rite of Spring for two pianos. The work is violent... Read more... |
Angela Hewitt, Wigmore HallSunday, 21 November 2010
In 1932 English pianist Harriet Cohen commissioned the best of Britain’s composers – Vaughan Williams, Ireland, Walton, Howells – to produce transcriptions of Bach for piano. The result, A Bach Book for Harriet Cohen, is a true document of its time... Read more... |
Stephen Kovacevich 70th Birthday Concert, Wigmore HallMonday, 18 October 2010
Heartfelt birthday salutations to the great pianist first known as plain Stephen Bishop. For a recital in the early 1980s, when he first added the paternal Croatian "Kovacevich", introducing me to late Brahms piano music - Op 117, never more... Read more... |
Kissin, LPO, Neeme Järvi, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 06 October 2010
"Well, Kissin's the star of the show," opined the fatuous gentleman who rolled in late to my row after the first piece on the programme. Possibly not, I wanted to snap back, in the light of that very fine pianist's current erratic form. But in any... Read more... |
Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 06 October 2010
Mitsuko Uchida’s playing is a glorious collusion of intellect and fantasy. Her recitals are meticulously planned but seemingly unexpected with chosen pieces impacting upon each other in ways one might not have imagined. Three keyboard giants –... Read more... |
Stephen Petronio Company, Barbican TheatreWednesday, 06 October 2010
Nico Muhly at the piano, Stephen Petronio in a false beard, a storm-at-sea theme derived from The Tempest - how hip is that? I Drink the Air Before Me, a new work for the Stephen Petronio Company as the opening night of this year’s Dance Umbrella (... Read more... |
New Generation at Maida ValeThursday, 30 September 2010Eleven years is a long time when you're launching young talent on the world. Since 1999, BBC Radio 3's New Generation Artists have gone forth and multiplied. All the "graduates" have outstanding careers, and among them some of the names which will... Read more... |
Russian afternoon, Rudy, Ivashkin, Kings PlaceSaturday, 11 September 2010
Two years after its first festive spree of 100 events, Kings Place has become the most congenial of all London's concert-hall zones in which to hang loose. On Friday afternoon I could have trotted happily between Russian piano classics, youth jazz... Read more... |
The Lying Down Concert: Earthrise, Royal Opera HouseSunday, 05 September 2010
We should lie down to listen to music much more often. Gravity pulls away the thought and frown lines, smoothes the intellectual tracks and folds on the face, while you feel the blood in your head pumping lushly to dreamier parts of your brain.... Read more... |
Tognetti, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Cadogan HallWednesday, 01 September 2010
Australia has many fine exports – wine, women, gap year anecdotes – but increasingly it is her orchestras that are setting the standard. With a magnificent Proms performance from the Australian Youth Orchestra still fresh in the ears (as well as a... Read more... |
theartsdesk from Colombo: A Pianist of the WorldSunday, 29 August 2010
Since winning the Symphony Orchestra of Sri Lanka Concerto Competition at the tender (and record-setting) age of 16, Tanya Ekanayaka has become one of Sri Lanka’s pre-eminent concert pianists. Last month she was the first from her country ever to... Read more... |
Sydney Symphony, Ashkenazy, Grimaud, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 24 August 2010
To be interestingly disappointed isn’t bad - it’s being uninterestingly disappointed that is. This was an intriguing Prom with a full house, possibly because of Hélène Grimaud’s presence in the Ravel piano concerto, as well as Vladimir Ashkenazy on... Read more... |
