Russia
theartsdesk Q&A: Pianist Boris GiltburgSunday, 28 February 2016
London has been missing out on Boris Giltburg for too long. He's been playing Shostakovich concertos back to back with Petrenko in Liverpool, and the big Rachmaninov works up in Scotland (see theartsdesk's review today of the latest Royal Scottish... Read more... |
CD: Pinkshinyultrablast - GrandfeatheredMonday, 22 February 2016
The second album by Russian shoegazers Pinkshinyultrablast neatly side-steps any language-barrier issues either by submerging their mono-monikered singer Lyubov’s voice into their sea of noise, or ensuring that what is heard could be wordless... Read more... |
The Mighty Handful, ROH Orchestra, Pappano, Royal Opera HouseTuesday, 09 February 2016
What fun it must have been to attend any of the St Petersburg Free Music School concerts during the second half of the 19th century. Balakirev, idiosyncratic mentor of the group briefly together as the "Mighty Handful", and his acolytes – Borodin,... Read more... |
War and Peace, Series Finale, BBC OneMonday, 08 February 2016
At the end of Episode Five, Brian Cox's savvy old Field-Marshal Kutuzov gave the order to retreat and abandon Moscow, with hardly a hint of Tolstoy's council of war. That left the final hour and 20 minutes to wrap up the burning of Russia's sacred... Read more... |
Gutman, LPO, Jurowski, RFHThursday, 28 January 2016
Risk-taking is what gives so many of Vladimir Jurowski's concerts with the London Philharmonic Orchestra their special savour. But did two risks for last night's programme pay off? I was as excited as many Russians and hardcore Russophiles at the... Read more... |
DVD: TangerinesThursday, 28 January 2016
Georgian director Zaza Urushadze’s Tangerines made the shortlist of five for last year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar category (it didn't win). It was nominated from Georgia, but could equally well have represented Estonia: this incrementally powerful... Read more... |
Occupied, Sky ArtsThursday, 14 January 2016
Even the most glazed-eyed Europhile must have begun to notice that the EU's righteous halo is dimming a tiny bit. Against a backdrop of currency chaos and uncontrolled immigration, issues of sovereignty and national self-determination are... Read more... |
War and Peace, BBC OneMonday, 04 January 2016
So, Andrew Davies has bitten off the big one. It may have come as a surprise to some that the master of adapting the British classics for television hadn’t read Tolstoy’s classic-to-end-all-classics until the BBC mooted the idea of a new screen... Read more... |
Eugene Onegin, Royal OperaSunday, 20 December 2015
Searing emotional truth has to be at the core of any attempt to stage Tchaikovsky’s “lyrical scenes after Pushkin”. I was among the minority who thought Kasper Holten got it right, with deep knowledge of the original verse-novel, in his first... Read more... |
DVD: Red ArmyTuesday, 08 December 2015
The story of the Soviet Union’s ice hockey team's pivotal role in relations with North America is fascinating. Its players were not just sportsmen. They were also in the army and integral to their home country's portrayal of itself on the world... Read more... |
RLPO, Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolFriday, 04 December 2015
Why play a very substantial act of ballet music in concert? In the case of Aurora’s wedding entertainment from Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty, there are at least three good reasons. It embraces the most inventive and unorthodox of divertissements... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: John Barry, Mikael TariverdievSunday, 29 November 2015
In 1986, the Russian state honoured Mikael Tariverdiev with the People's Artist of Russia award, a mark of respect given to only the most significant figures in the arts. The Tbilisi-born composer was the head of the Composer’s Guild of the Soviet... Read more... |
