Southbank Centre
Isserlis, LPO, Elder, Southbank Centre online review – songs of life and deathThursday, 15 April 2021
The Southbank Centre automatically stuck the trusty “Bohemian Rhapsodies” headline on this London Philharmonic Orchestra concert of Czech music streamed from the still-deserted Royal Festival Hall. Given Janáček’s presence on the bill, they should... Read more... |
Bevan, LPO, Jurowski, RFH online review – never-ending storiesFriday, 01 January 2021
The LPO, and its soon-to-depart chief conductor Vladimir Jurowski, began its 2020 Vision season back in February. It set out to mix and match the music of three centuries and show how it echoes in contemporary works. Well, little of that turned out... Read more... |
Julia Bullock, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – bewitching dreamscapesFriday, 30 October 2020
Nobody would wish it this way, but orchestras playing on a stage specially built-up for distancing to a handful of invitees have never sounded better in the Royal Festival Hall. The Philharmonia’s outgoing principal conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen is a... Read more... |
Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review – wide range of American voicesTuesday, 27 October 2020
There’s an old rule in the theatre that you don’t have to go on if there are more people on stage than in the audience. Last night I counted less than 15 people listening in the cavernous auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall pitted against a fairly... Read more... |
Tasmin Little Farewell Recital, RFH review - memories, tributes and dreamsFriday, 23 October 2020
Bidding farewell to the Royal Festival Hall, Tasmin Little was at the very peak of her powers. It’s almost unthinkable that we will never see her play here again. Many have hoped that she’d be one of those musicians who announce their retirement... Read more... |
Jeneba Kanneh-Mason, Sode, Chineke! Orchestra, Edusei, RFH review - protest, passion and joyWednesday, 21 October 2020
During the Black Lives Matter demonstrations in London earlier this year, a black man named Patrick Hutchinson hoisted over his shoulder an injured white man from the counter-protest of the English Defence League and carried him to safety. The... Read more... |
Finley, LPO, Gardner, Royal Festival Hall (p)review - special magic ready for streamingThursday, 24 September 2020
There was a rainbow over the Royal Festival Hall as I crossed one of the Hungerford foot bridges for the first time in six months. The lights and noises inside did not betray the augury. Was it the sheer hallucinatory pleasure of being within the... Read more... |
Beethoven: 1808 Reconstructed, Aimard, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - a feast in fading lightTuesday, 17 March 2020
Like it or not, we live – as Beethoven did – in interesting times. In place of the revolutions, wars and occupations that convulsed the cities he knew, we now confront a silent, invisible foe that breeds an equal terror. Hence the empty seats in the... Read more... |
Grosvenor, Park, Ridout, Soltani, QEH review - inspired collegiality at the highest levelFriday, 28 February 2020
Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss are not the composers you'd hear at a typical chamber music concert. Their early efforts at piano quartets made up the first half of an evening at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with Benjamin Grosvenor and friends that... Read more... |
Gabetta, NHK SO, Järvi, RFH review - transparency and dynamismTuesday, 25 February 2020
This concert represented the British leg of the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s European tour. Tokyo’s radio orchestra is Japan’s flagship ensemble, and they are fine advocates for the country’s thriving musical culture, the playing precise and the tone... Read more... |
Aimard, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Roth, RFH review - Beethoven as avant-gardistSaturday, 22 February 2020
In Beethoven anniversary year, there are three ways to enhance our ongoing concert dialogues with the composer beyond the bog-standard overture-concerto-symphony format: complete cycles of the quartets, symphonies and sonatas, preferably without old... Read more... |
Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony, Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - big picture, stunning detailsFriday, 21 February 2020
So many performances of Mahler's most theatrical symphony every season, so few conductors who have something radically fresh to say about it. Two who do are London Philharmonic Orchestra chief Vladimir Jurowski, perfecting his vision over the years... Read more... |
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