Southbank Centre
Haas Hommage à Bridget Riley, London Sinfonietta, Lubman, QEH review - vibrant abstractionFriday, 06 December 2019
Music and visual art, at least at the highest level, should go their own separate ways; put them together, and one form will always be subordinate to the other. A composer being inspired by an artist's work, or vice versa, is something else... Read more... |
Rufus and Martha Wainwright, A Not So Silent Night, RFH review - Christmas, family-styleSaturday, 07 December 2019
It’s 10 years this month since Kate McGarrigle gave her last concert, the annual Christmas concert that meant so much to her, at the Royal Albert Hall. Next month, 18 January, marks the first decade since her passing at the tragically early age of... Read more... |
Peter Grimes, Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, Gardner, RFH review - more instrumental than vocal intensitySunday, 01 December 2019
"Sadler's Wells! Any more for Peter Grimes, the sadistic fisherman?," a cheery bus conductor is alleged to have called out around the time of this towering masterpiece's premiere in 1945. The side of a "Grimes bus" today would probably proclaim over... Read more... |
Behzod Abduraimov, Queen Elizabeth Hall review - enchanting engagement and breathtaking virtuosityWednesday, 27 November 2019
Given the number of audience members playing air-piano along with parts of Pictures at an Exhibition, Behzod Abduraimov should perhaps be described as a pianist’s pianist. He is nevertheless a great deal more than that. Ten years ago this young... Read more... |
Cleveland Watkiss 60th birthday celebration, Queen Elizabeth Hall review - seismic pulse, emotive wordsMonday, 25 November 2019
Whether performing with the ground-breaking Jazz Warriors big band (which he co-founded in the 1980s) or Marque Gilmore and DJ Le Rouge in Project 23, taking the lead roles in Julian Joseph’s jazz operas Bridgetower and Shadowball, or emceeing one... Read more... |
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi review, Royal Festival Hall - musical togethernessSaturday, 23 November 2019
Leonard Bernstein talked about “the infinite variety of music” and the late maestro would have been thrilled by the variety on display at the Royal Festival Hall where Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi were as exciting and exhilarating as... Read more... |
Jazz Voice, Royal Festival Hall - engulfing beauty and hidden gemsSaturday, 16 November 2019
Jazz Voice unfailingly supplies a gigantic sugar-rush of auditory pleasure, and this year’s edition was no exception. Arranged, scored and conducted by the brilliant Guy Barker, the evening’s opener saw rising US vocalist Judi Jackson and the EFG... Read more... |
Wegener, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review – on the revolutionary road to MahlerThursday, 14 November 2019
For better or worse, because of Visconti’s classic film the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony now inevitably means Venice in its gloomiest moods. So there turned out to be a grim timeliness in a performance on an evening that coincided with the... Read more... |
'The Academy and I': composer and viola-player Sally Beamish on a special relationshipTuesday, 12 November 2019
I was 13. It was a Saturday, and Mum was working. On this occasion she asked if I’d like to come along and bring a book. I was wearing a dress I’d made myself – psychedelic orange and pink, with red edging. It was 1969. I don’t remember what the... Read more... |
Williams, LPO, Alsop, RFH review - sleek lines and pastoral tonesMonday, 11 November 2019
The London Philharmonic’s Isle of Noises, a year-long festival dedicated to music of the British Isles, drew towards its close with this programme of Butterworth, Elgar and Walton. Marin Alsop was a good choice to lead, especially for Walton’s... Read more... |
Ólafur Arnalds presents OPIA, Southbank Centre review - many strange delightsSaturday, 09 November 2019
Ólafur Arnalds is almost secretly huge. Millions adore the melancholy beauty of the Icelandic composer’s music, yet his name still brings blank stares from some. The Royal Festival Hall was predictably full to bursting, though, to see Arnalds... Read more... |
Urioste, Chineke! Orchestra, Edusei, QEH review – a precious gem catches the light at lastFriday, 08 November 2019
The Chineke! Orchestra, founded by double-bassist Chi-chi Nwanoku as the first majority BME orchestra in the UK, is heading off this week on a substantial European tour, which began last night at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Since the organisation has... Read more... |
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