Ravel
Prom 46: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, BarenboimThursday, 21 August 2014
By the time we got to the end of this Prom, with four of the five encores – the whole of Bizet’s Carmen Suite – cannily crafted to bolster the short official programme, most of the rightly euphoric audience had forgotten the most unsatisfying first... Read more... |
Prom 27: Trusler, BBCNOW, Wigglesworth/Inspire Workshop, Royal Albert HallThursday, 07 August 2014
A full day began and ended with Elgar the European, or rather the citizen of the world. After all, the Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1, played with panache by 180 young musicians in a morning meet-up, owes its swagger to the "Cortège de Bacchus"... Read more... |
Simon Trpčeski, Wigmore HallSunday, 20 July 2014
No man is a prophet in his own land – except possibly the Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski. In the UK he shot to fame upon winning the London International Piano Competition in 2001 and at home he has become a national hero, his efforts rebooting... Read more... |
Khatia Buniatishvili, Queen Elizabeth HallThursday, 05 June 2014
A voluptuous dream in sequined silver, the nearly-27-year-old Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili sat down at the keyboard and instantly transcendentalised her mermaid look as Ravel’s Ondine. Even Brahms took to the life aquatic of her recital’s... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Cage, Madetoja, Mussorgsky, Ravel, ScarlattiSaturday, 10 May 2014
Madetoja: Symphonies 1&3, Okon Fuoko Suite Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra/John Storgårds (Ondine)The first movement of Leevi Madetoja's Symphony no 1 approaches perfection. The opening gesture is arresting, and the lilting second subject... Read more... |
Cabell, BBC Concert Orchestra, Lockhart, QEHTuesday, 01 April 2014
Where did all the terrific programming energy of last year’s The Rest is Noise festival go? One answer – surprising given the orchestra’s former Friday night lite status – is into a two-concert adventure by the BBCCO. World to Come, World Once Known... Read more... |
Cabell, RPO, Dutoit, Royal Festival HallThursday, 13 February 2014
This was the first of three Royal Festival Hall concerts during the first half of 2014 from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and its principal conductor Charles Dutoit, all three programmes consisting entirely of French music. The other two will be... Read more... |
Boris Giltburg, Queen Elizabeth HallFriday, 15 November 2013
Among the diaspora of younger-generation Russian or Russian-trained pianists, there are at least four whose intellect and poetry match their technique. Three whose craft was honed at the Moscow or St Petersburg Conservatories – Yevgeny Sudbin,... Read more... |
Marc-André Hamelin, Wigmore HallTuesday, 05 November 2013
French-Canadian pianist Hamelin has the technique and the stamina to play anything, which is why the note-crazy, obsessive “Night Wind” Sonata of Nikolay Medtner buzzed around at the heart of his recital. But between the proud resonance of its many... Read more... |
Kadouch, Vincent, BBC Singers, BBCSO, Minkowski, BarbicanSunday, 27 October 2013
Back at the Barbican for a new season after a Far Eastern tour, the BBC Symphony Orchestra returned to pull off a characteristic stunt, a generous four-work programme featuring at least one piece surely no-one in the audience woud have heard live... Read more... |
Prom 56: Thibaudet, Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester, JordanSunday, 25 August 2013
The visits of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester are a regular Proms highlight, only preceded (for me) by the John Wilson Orchestra in the speed with which they go from announcement to diary. Last year’s concert under Gatti was a whirling celebration... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Feldman, French Piano Concertos, Andreas OttensamerSaturday, 13 July 2013
Debussy, Poulenc, Ravel, Françaix: Piano Concertos Florian Uhlig (piano), Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern/Pablo González (Hänssler Classic)I salivated when I read the tracklisting on this immaculately produced disc. I... Read more... |
