Schoenberg
Maurizio Pollini, RFHWednesday, 15 March 2017
Age is finally catching up with Maurizio Pollini. This recital was one of a series to mark the pianist’s 75th birthday, presenting Beethoven piano sonatas, music at the core of his repertoire. His legendary status was justified by these readings,... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Gavin Higgins, Christopher Simpson, Pina NapolitanoSaturday, 14 January 2017
Gavin Higgins: Dark Arteries and other works Tredegar Town Band/Ian Porthouse (Tredegar Town Band)The heavy industries associated with British brass bands may be close to extinction, so it’s reassuring to encounter evidence that so many of... Read more... |
Jeremy Denk, Wigmore HallSunday, 18 September 2016
Medieval to Modern – Jeremy Denk’s Wigmore Hall recital took us on a whistle-stop tour of Western music, beginning with Machaut in the mid-14th century and ending with Ligeti at the end of the 20th. The programme was made up of 25 short works, each... 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... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Dvořak, Janáček, Schoenberg, Igor LevitSaturday, 21 November 2015
Janáček: Sinfonietta, Dvořak: Symphony No.9 Anima Eterna Brugge/Jos van Immerseel (Alpha Classics)Jos van Immerseel's last period-instrument excursion took in Orff's Carmina Burana, so this latest release is a chronological back step. Though... Read more... |
Farewell to Stravinsky's right-hand manSunday, 15 November 2015
Missionary angel or twelve-tone devil? Musical figures like Poulenc, perhaps too much attached to the diabolical element in Thomas Mann’s Doktor Faustus, were inclined to see the incursion of Robert Craft into Stravinsky’s Hollywood life in 1948 in... Read more... |
Gerhaher, Huber, Wigmore HallMonday, 09 November 2015
Christian Gerhaher is a classy recitalist. His stage manner is debonair, his tailoring immaculate (although his hair can be unruly). His artistry focuses on key vocal virtues: directness of expression and beauty of tone. In this evening’s recital,... Read more... |
Love, Art and Rock 'n' Roll, Rambert, Sadler's WellsWednesday, 04 November 2015
A good triple bill should have something for everyone, so Rambert have all bases covered with their latest: rare must be the person who likes neither love, nor art, nor rock 'n' roll. In fact, it's a safe bet that most people like all of them, and... Read more... |
Hofmann, Royal Danish Orchestra, Boder, Symphony Hall, BirminghamThursday, 17 September 2015
There’s just something about an opera orchestra when it’s let out of the pit. The Royal Danish Orchestra is more than that, of course – it makes much of its six centuries of history, and since its past members included John Dowland, Heinrich Schütz... Read more... |
Prom 66: Uchida, LPO, JurowskiSaturday, 05 September 2015
After the broad, lyrical Shostakovich Tenth Symphony Andris Nelsons presented at the Proms last week, Vladimir Jurowski’s austere and unrelenting Eighth came as a shock. The two performances were equally fine, but at opposite ends of the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Schoenberg, Shostakovich, Maria Camahort QuintetSaturday, 15 August 2015
Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder Gürzenich-Orchester Köln/Markus Stenz (Hyperion)Schoenberg's vast Gurre-Lieder began life in 1900 as a modest song cycle for soprano, tenor and piano, its texts drawn from Danish poetry. He suspended work on the piece in... Read more... |
Prom 10: Mahler Chamber Orchestra, Andsnes 2Saturday, 25 July 2015
So to the second leg of Leif Ove Andsnes's journey through the Beethoven concertos, and a distressingly underpopulated Royal Albert Hall. Perhaps the punters were put off by the wintry weather, or perhaps by the dread names of Schoenberg and... Read more... |
