Southbank Centre
Aimard, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Rattle, Royal Festival HallMonday, 11 June 2012
The repertoire of the OAE is creeping away from the 18th century and into the 20th with such unashamed eagerness, it wouldn't be at all surprising to see them throwing up an urtext edition of "Hit Me Baby One More Time" in a few seasons. Last... Read more... |
Norah Jones, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 02 June 2012
It's easy to forget exactly how successful Norah Jones is, but with over 50 million records sold, she is a modern success up there with the Jay-Zs of this world. To see her come on stage last night, though, you wouldn't have known it. There were no... Read more... |
Rattle rolls up for The Night ShiftFriday, 25 May 2012Sir Simon Rattle has a reputation as one of classical music's most persuasive talkers. Only not with a baton in his hand. His skills as both a verbal and musical communicator will be simultaneously on view for the first time next month when he makes... Read more... |
Jessye Norman, Royal Festival HallTuesday, 22 May 2012
There comes a point in almost every great soprano’s career when she tells the world that Tosca, the Marschallin or Isolde be damned: what she wanted to sing all along was The Great American Songbook. This announcement tends to be made - how shall I... Read more... |
Helmchen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 03 May 2012
Two more contrasting pianists than Yuja Wang and Martin Helmchen would be hard to find. To move within 24 hours from the glittering assault of Wang’s technique to the restrained, almost introverted, Helmchen is an exercise in extremes, and one that... Read more... |
Yuja Wang, Queen Elizabeth HallWednesday, 02 May 2012
Let no one tell you that Chinese pianists can't play with passion. Yuja Wang ran the full gamut of emotions in last night's Queen Elizabeth Hall recital from the tender to the rhapsodic. But mostly she channelled her energies to delivering some of... Read more... |
Conlon Nancarrow Weekend, South Bank CentreWednesday, 25 April 2012
This has to be the only music festival I've ever been to where two vacuum cleaners were on standby in case the star performer conked out. But that's what happens when your star performer is a player piano - they seem to run on Hoover tubes. With 11... Read more... |
20x12: Composers Go OlympicTuesday, 24 April 2012
Southbank Centre’s current season has included weekends devoted to three contemporary giants: Pierre Boulez, Conlon Nancarrow and George Benjamin. But it closes with a festival devoted to not to one contemporary composer but 20. The New Music... Read more... |
Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival HallTuesday, 24 April 2012
Oh boy. More Schubert. Deep breath. I had flashbacks of last month's wall-to-wall Franzi on BBC Radio Three. Nothing's come closer to ending my lifelong love affair with the tubby Austrian than the endless stream of half-finished three-part drinking... Read more... |
Currie, LPO, Vänskä, Royal Festival HallThursday, 19 April 2012
A mischievous part of me firmly believes that from the mountain of dubious art works produced in the world since the 1980s, the most dubious of all have been the percussion concertos. I know I’m being somewhat harsh, for I’ve thrilled along with... Read more... |
Southbank shoots Bollywood film in a weekTuesday, 17 April 2012As part of this week's Alchemy Festival, the Southbank Centre is making a Bollywood film in a week, to be screened for free in the Clore Ballroom at 4:30pm on Sunday 22nd as the festival finale. The story is a classic boy-meets-girl love story.... Read more... |
Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, Royal Festival HallTuesday, 17 April 2012
Lightness. Tenderness. Grace. These are not words you normally associate with Barenboim's pianism - not these days. But they were exactly the thoughts running through my head while listening to his performance of Mozart's C minor piano concerto last... Read more... |
