Classical Reviews

Classical CDs Weekly: Henry Mancini, Georg Breinschmid, Beethoven

graham Rickson Saturday, 24 January 2015

Henry Mancini: The Classic Soundtrack Collection (Sony)

James Dillon's Stabat Mater, London Sinfonietta, Volkov, QEH

Gavin Dixon Thursday, 22 January 2015

James Dillon calls this major work, premered at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival last November, a “Cubist Stabat Mater”. He sets the hymn, but adds in more recent words, texts on related themes by Picasso, Kristeva and Rilke, among others. The music, too, acknowledges the passage of historical time, with subtle references to musical styles from down the centuries.

Latvian Radio Choir, Kļava, St John's Smith Square

Gavin Dixon Wednesday, 21 January 2015

Latvia likes to be different. At least that’s the message they sent out with the cultural programme marking the start of the country’s presidency of the Council of the European Union. Pomp and circumstance were out, and instead we got a Cage-inspired happening, an audio/visual presentation that was many things: part video installation, part performance art. The only thing you couldn’t describe it as was a choral concert.

JACK Quartet, Wigmore Hall

Geoff Brown Tuesday, 20 January 2015

The mixed grilled school of programme-making is not for the JACK Quartet. Contemporary, contemporary, and contemporary: that was the bill of fare last night at this challenging recital offered by the young American group, graduates of the Eastman School of Music, who derive their capitalised title from the initial letters of the members’ first names. Like the Arditti String Quartet, one of their mentors, you’d never find them playing Schubert.

Colli, BBCSO, Oramo, Barbican Hall

David Nice Saturday, 17 January 2015

Was 1911 the best ever year for music?

Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Mozart, Poulenc

graham Rickson Saturday, 17 January 2015

Bach: St John Passion Berliner Philharmoniker, Members of the Rudfunkchors Berlin, Soloists/Sir Simon Rattle, with staging by Peter Sellars (Berliner Philharmoniker)

Hannigan, LSO, Rattle, Barbican Hall

Peter Quantrill Friday, 16 January 2015

For his second programme this week with the London Symphony Orchestra, Sir Simon Rattle conducted variations on a programme he’s been doing for years. So what’s the theme? Invention and hysteria, you might say. Berg’s Marie in Wozzeck and Stravinsky’s virgin in The Rite of Spring both meet gory if wordless ends.

Jansen, Golan, Wigmore Hall

Sebastian Scotney Tuesday, 13 January 2015

This recital had looked so good on paper. The charismatic Dutch violinist Janine Jansen, with Itamar Golan at the piano, would bring all the brooding darkness of late '60s Shostakovich to life, and would then charm and finally dazzle in Ravel. In the hall on the night, and in particular in the second half, she didn't quite live up to such expectations.

Comment

Winterreise, Bostridge, Adès, Barbican Hall

alexandra Coghlan Tuesday, 13 January 2015

Ian Bostridge’s relationship with Schubert’s song-cycle Winterreise goes back 30 years. Many of those years have been spent in the public eye (and ear), allowing us to watch the tenor grow and grow-up with this music. It’s been over a decade since his first recording of the cycle with Leif Ove Andsnes, and almost that long since David Alden’s filmed version; the Bostridge who tours the cycle with Thomas Adès this year is quite a different singer and performer.

Das Paradies und die Peri, LSO, Rattle, Barbican

Gavin Dixon Monday, 12 January 2015

Sir Simon Rattle wants you to hear Das Paradies und die Peri. He is convinced that Schumann’s oratorio is one of the great undiscovered masterpieces of the Romantic era. To that end, he has led performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and an all-star cast, and has now brought that cast to London to convert the Brits.