Ravel
Classical CDs Weekly: Gabriela Montero, Ravel, Caroline Shaw, Edith HemenwaySaturday, 19 October 2019
Gabriela Montero: Piano Concerto No 1, ‘Latin Concerto’, Ravel: Concerto in G Gabriela Montero (piano), The Orchestra of the Americas/Carlos Miguel Prieto (Orchid Classics)Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero describes herself as “a globalised... Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - joy unboundedSaturday, 01 June 2019
You can tell a lot from the opening of Brahms’s Second Symphony. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra began it – and it’s not the first time they’ve done this in a big German symphony – as if in mid-... Read more... |
Clara Mouriz, Roderick Williams, Joseph Middleton, Wigmore Hall review - the song recital as mixtapeTuesday, 07 May 2019
It’s the age of the mixtape. And of the Only Connect sequences round. Last night’s Wigmore Hall song recital, under the curious strap-line “Basque Blood and the Folksong” was centred around Ravel songs – the Wigmore Hall has a focus on them this... Read more... |
Trifonov, LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - Russian style with French chic (and cheek)Tuesday, 19 February 2019
The arc of Daniil Trifonov’s reputation has soared and then, to some ears, stalled in a familiar modern way. Russian Wunderkind pianist bags a sackful of competition trophies (Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky prizes; Gramophone Awards). Early recitals and... Read more... |
Van Woerkum, BBCPO, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a symphony of cinemaMonday, 21 January 2019
In contrast to a classic film soundtrack played live with the film, the idea in "symphonic cinema" is that the music, and its interpretation, come first. So the conductor is literally setting the pace, and to some extent the atmosphere, while the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Strauss, La Symphonie de Poche, Temple Church ChoirSaturday, 22 December 2018
Beethoven: Symphony No 3, Strauss: Horn Concerto No 1 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck, William Caballero (horn) (Reference Recordings)Funny how one's first experience of encountering a piece can still cast a shadow decades on; I... Read more... |
L'heure espagnole, Mid Wales Opera review - Ravel goes like clockworkSaturday, 01 December 2018
Mid Wales Opera makes small-scale touring look fun – even when you suspect that, behind the scenes, it really isn’t. Barely 24 hours before this performance of their current production of Ravel’s L’heure espagnole, and 11 dates into their current 16... Read more... |
Katya Apekisheva, Charles Owen, Kings Place review - one plus one equals a hundredThursday, 04 October 2018
We could probably spend all day pondering what makes a great musical partnership. Is it long experience, special sensitivity, a shared sense of humour? We’d get nowhere, though because there is, genuinely, something about it that can't be explained... Read more... |
Prom 69, Skride, Boston SO, Nelsons / Proms at...Cadogan Hall 8, Berlin Philharmonic Soloists review - sophisticated limitsTuesday, 04 September 2018
Crazy days are here again – many of us are lucky not to have been born when the last collectve insanity blitzed the world – and nothing in Shostakovich seems too outlandish for reality. On the other hand, there's a growing movement to liberate his... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Lucerne Festival - all-Beethoven and all-Ravel concerts from the greatestWednesday, 29 August 2018
Like the Proms, but over a more concentrated time-span, in a much better concert hall and with a swankier audience paying a good deal more, the Lucerne Festival offers a summer parade of the world's greatest orchestras and conductors night after... Read more... |
Prom 45, Capuçon, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Nott - scintillating new era for Swiss magiciansFriday, 17 August 2018
Who is the greatest British conductor in charge of a major orchestra? It's subjective, but my answer is not what you might expect. Jonathan Nott has done all his major work so far on the continent. He left the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra in excellent... Read more... |
Prom 44, Gringytė, CBSO, Morlot review - eloquently sculpted Gallic richesThursday, 16 August 2018
This should have been the third much-anticipated Prom of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra's inspiring communicator-in-chief Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. She's now on maternity leave. So those of us who hadn't experienced Ludovic Morlot live before... Read more... |
