Classical Reviews

Stephen Hough, RFH

Jessica Duchen Wednesday, 29 April 2015

It took just two bars of Debussy's La plus que lente for Stephen Hough to transport the entire Royal Festival Hall to Paris. The nearest thing the French composer ever wrote to a café waltz – inspired by a gypsy band in a local hotel – this bewitching, louche yet elusive little piece might in other hands make a more suitable encore than opener.

Comment

Fitzwilliam Quartet, Hay Chamber Music Festival

stephen Walsh Saturday, 25 April 2015

If the thought of the annual trek to Hay-on-Wye for the literary festival in May fills you with as much gloom as it does me (and I don’t have to go as far as most of our readers), you might do worse than sample the town’s chamber music festival this weekend as a healthy change or at least a soothing antidote.

Classical CDs Weekly: Arnold, Brahms, Bruch, Hartmann

graham Rickson Saturday, 25 April 2015

Malcolm Arnold: Symphonies 1-9 London Symphony Orchestra/Richard Hickox, BBC Philharmonic/Rumon Gamba (Chandos)

LSO, Eötvös, Barbican

Peter Quantrill Friday, 24 April 2015

Time was when a Boulez concert with the LSO would have been directed by the man himself, but that is no longer possible. In Peter Eötvös they have the next best thing, a conductor who has known the man and his music for decades, whose listening ear is scarcely less acute and whose most recent appearance wth the LSO, in Lachenmann and Brahms with Maurizio Pollini, made quite miraculous music from intensive rehearsal.

Three Tales, Ensemble BPM, IMAX Science Museum

David Nice Thursday, 23 April 2015

Poised vibrantly enough between the buried-alive monotony of Philip Glass and the dynamic flights of John Adams, Steve Reich’s Three Tales deserves a special place in music-theatre history ("opera" it is not).

Batiashvili, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, RFH

Gavin Dixon Wednesday, 22 April 2015

Gasps of surprise were heard across the country last month, when Richard Morrison on BBC Radio 3's "Building a Library" announced Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin as his library choice for Elgar’s Second Symphony. That recommendation proved timely for the conductor and his orchestra, who yesterday completed their short London residency with the same symphony.

Argerich, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, RFH

David Nice Tuesday, 21 April 2015

It looked like a potential misalliance between performers used to looking at the stars and a programme of earthly, ideally rather broadly humorous delights. In the event, Martha Argerich, who can turn her high, lucid playing to most ends, sought out a sharp-edged wit if not a relaxed warmth in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto. The real magic came later in the first half. But in the second, ...

Handel Singing Competition Final, St George's Hanover Square

alexandra Coghlan Tuesday, 21 April 2015

You only have to look down the list of recent winners of the Handel Singing Competition – Andrew Kennedy, Elizabeth Atherton, Ruby Hughes, Sophie Junker – to see its pedigree, its knack for spotting serious talent. Yet you also only have to look down the list to realise that Handel gives sopranos an unfair advantage in a competition which gives them so much more repertoire to choose from than certain other voice types.

Špaček, Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Bělohlávek, Leeds Town Hall

graham Rickson Sunday, 19 April 2015

You’ve booked the iconic Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and their charismatic chief conductor Jiří Bělohlávek to do a whistle-stop UK tour. Hoorah. But what do you get them to play? The mind boggles with programming possibilities. A symphony by Martinů? Janáček’s Taras Bulba? Suk’s Asrael? Naah – what you do, inevitably, is look at the Classic FM Hall of Fame and ask them to perform The Lark Ascending and the Bruch G minor Concerto.