Switzerland
theartsdesk in Switzerland: Lucerne and Gstaad offer curious audiences fresh perspectives on much-loved worksTuesday, 27 August 2024
The summer festival circuit in Central Europe can be a bit of a merry-go-round. Notices in festival towns promise world-class orchestras and soloists, but they are usually the same performers, making festival appearances as part of broader touring... Read more... |
A Forgotten Man review - Switzerland's WW2 record haunts monochrome dramaFriday, 10 November 2023
Switzerland isn’t exactly famous for parading its history during WWII. Remaining neutral from the conflict like its neighbour Liechtenstein, the Swiss benefitted from financial and armament deals with Nazi Germany, turned away Jewish refugees... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: GothicTuesday, 29 August 2023
Ken Russell’s horror comedy Gothic (1986) compresses into one nightmarish night the fabled three days in June 1816 when Lord Byron (Gabriel Byrne) entertained at his retreat Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva his fellow Romantic poet... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Cymbals, monsters and Morse codeSaturday, 25 February 2023
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Paavo Järvi (Alpha)Parsifal Suite London Philharmonic Orchestra/Andrew Gourlay (Orchid Classics)There are many things to like about this sleek performance of Bruckner 7. The playing of the... Read more... |
Room, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - decadent, extravagant, and somewhat mystifyingTuesday, 16 August 2022
"I feel I owe you an explanation." That much James Thierrée concedes partway through his sprawling, freewheeling, dream-like, hallucinatory Room in Edinburgh’s King’s Theatre. By which stage, most of the audience was probably in agreement. It’s a... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Zurich - forging a brilliant new RingTuesday, 28 June 2022
Could this be the summer Bayreuth finally sees a new Ring production that comes anywhere near its last great epic success, Harry Kupfer’s, which ran from 1988-92? If so, it’s been pipped to the post by a rather more comfortable and bijou opera house... Read more... |
Everything Went Fine review - classy French family dramaTuesday, 14 June 2022
French filmmakers do family dramas so well, and none better than François Ozon when he is on form, as he is on Everything Went Fine.André (veteran charmer André Dussolier) is a wealthy industrialist and art dealer who, after suffering a debilitating... Read more... |
La Mif review - Swiss docu-drama focuses on troubled teensThursday, 24 February 2022
La Mif is French slang for family - it’s the cool kids practice of reversing key words known as ‘verlan’ (itself l’envers backwards) to create their own language. Director Fred Bailif definitely wants to be down with the... Read more... |
Album: Yello - PointSaturday, 22 August 2020
Some of the greatest acts of all time are the ones which find a sound and never need to alter it. Motörhead, Dinosaur Jr, Status Quo... and in the electronic world, Switzerland’s finest, Yello. It’s over 40 years since they first set millionaire... Read more... |
Louis Schwizgebel, Fidelio Orchestra Café review – gilt-edged postcards from around the worldFriday, 31 July 2020
A front-rank pianist only takes on Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in full confidence of being able to handle the massive bells and blazing chants of its grand finale, “The Great Gate of Kiev”. To risk it in a far from large café space adds to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Rachmaninov, Shostakovich, Aisha OrazbayevaSaturday, 09 May 2020
Rachmaninoff in Lucerne – Rhapsody, Op. 43, Symphony No. 3 Behzod Abduraimov (piano), Luzerner Sinfonieorchester/James Gaffigan (Sony)I’m the only person I know who rates Walton’s Symphony No. 2 as highly as his first, and I’m probably also... Read more... |
The Visit, National Theatre review - star turn bolsters baggy rewriteSaturday, 15 February 2020
Lesley Manville’s thrilling career ascent continues apace with The Visit, which marks American playwright Tony Kushner’s return to the National Theatre following the acclaimed Angels in America revival nearly three... Read more... |
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