Sibelius
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Richard Rodney Bennett, SibeliusSaturday, 13 October 2012
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier András Schiff (ECM)András Schiff was a finalist in the 1975 Leeds International Piano Competition. He came third – presumably having confounded expectations by playing Bach’s D minor keyboard concerto instead of... Read more... |
The Maiden in the Tower & Kashchei the Immortal, Buxton FestivalTuesday, 10 July 2012
Many years ago in Helsinki I met Sibelius’s daughter, Margareta, and her husband, the conductor Jussi Jalas. He used to come to Manchester to conduct the Halle. And it was he who rescued from obscurity his father-in-law’s only completed opera, The... Read more... |
Lindberg, Cowen, RLPO, Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolFriday, 02 March 2012
There’s always a bit of a buzz around a premiere, even one which may seem slightly off-the-wall. Jan Sandström’s Echoes of Eternity is a concerto for two solo trombones – unusual in itself, given that there are precious few concerti for just one... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brian, Shostakovich, SibeliusSaturday, 11 February 2012
Havergal Brian: Symphony No 1 The Gothic BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra etc/Martyn Brabbins (Hyperion)The performers involved are too numerous to list above; Hyperion do include the names of every instrumentalist,... Read more... |
BBC Symphony Orchestra, Saraste, Barbican HallSaturday, 17 December 2011
Is it ever a good idea to programme two symphonies by one composer in a single concert? Maverick Valery Gergiev is likely to stand alone in applying the rule to Mahler. Yet curiously his Prom marathon of two big instalments made more sense as stages... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mathias, Sibelius, Duo GazzanaSaturday, 19 November 2011
William Mathias: Piano Concertos 1 & 2; Vaughan Williams: Fantasy for Piano and Orchestra Mark Bebbington (piano) Ulster Orchestra/George Vass (Somm)Welsh composer William Mathias’s first two piano concertos are the most enjoyable things... Read more... |
Sibelius's Eighth: pages from a lost symphony?Friday, 18 November 2011
The rest, it seems, is not to remain quite silence from the 32 years Jean Sibelius lived on after completing his last major work, the astonishing incidental music for a production of The Tempest in 1925. There are a handful of smaller-scale pieces,... Read more... |
Komsi, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Oramo, Barbican HallSaturday, 29 October 2011
With Riccardo Chailly's Leipzig Beethoven series well into its capacious stride, another cycle of symphonies keeping unusual company begins. This one featuring the BBC Symphony Orchestra will take longer and features six conductors, four of them... Read more... |
Holland Panorama, Hoddinott Hall, CardiffThursday, 27 October 2011
Isn’t it strange how national talent goes by subject? Put on a blockbuster exhibition of Dutch painting and the queue will stretch to the Embankment. But can you imagine a festival of Dutch music? Sweelinck (d 1652) and Andriessen (b 1939) more or... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Ravel, Sibelius, DudamelSaturday, 08 October 2011
Ravel: Complete Music for Violin and Piano Alina Ibragimova, Cédric Tiberghien (Hyperion)Ravel’s output for violin and piano clocks in at around 50 minutes, so there’s a generous bonus on this CD in the shape of Guillaume Lekeu’s Violin Sonata.... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Ott, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra, OramoTuesday, 09 August 2011
What a difference a change of scene makes. During Sakari Oramo’s 10 years at the helm of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra he wasn’t exactly diffident; but you felt you could invite him to tea without any crockery getting broken. Now, I’m... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Schiff, Hallé, ElderFriday, 22 July 2011
It was partly as penance for having missed the previous evening's Czech festival that I arena-prommed for last night's Moravian finale, to be happily strafed by the nine extra trumpets of Janáček's Sinfonietta. I hadn't quite expected to be so on... Read more... |
