Classical Reviews

Malala/A Child of Our Time, Crouch End Festival Chorus, Temple, Barbican

Bernard Hughes Wednesday, 29 October 2014

James McCarthy’s oratorio Malala is both a heartfelt tribute to the young Nobel Peace laureate, Malala Yousafzai, and political statement in favour of the education of women. In it, as in its companion piece A Child of Our Time, a persecuted individual is turned into a symbol of all mankind.

RPO, National Arts Centre Orchestra, Zukerman, Royal Festival Hall

Kimon Daltas Tuesday, 28 October 2014

This concert was part of a tour of Canada’s National Arts Centre orchestra to five cities in the UK themed around the anniversary of the start of World War One. The Ottawa-based orchestra joined forces with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Choir for this London centrepiece to the tour, under the baton of violinist-turned-conductor Pinchas Zukerman.

Comment

Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Christopher Lambton Saturday, 25 October 2014

Is there an ideal way to programme Metamorphosen? Richard Strauss’s elegiac masterpiece requires 23 solo strings. That’s more than most chamber orchestras can muster, but with a full size symphony orchestra the piece leaves most of the players with nothing to do. In this Usher Hall concert the Royal Scottish National Orchestra chose to let Metamorphosen stand in glorious isolation before the interval.

Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Prokofiev, Shostakovich

graham Rickson Saturday, 25 October 2014

quartet-lab, Wigmore Hall

David Nice Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Musical theatre needn’t be dominated by the human voice. Instrumental dramas with an element of acting can be a good way into the wonderful world of chamber music for younger audiences, and the Wigmore Hall’s new gambit of special student tickets for contemporary music paid off with the very different crowd there last night.

Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Poulenc, Orbert Davis

graham Rickson Saturday, 18 October 2014

Mitsuko Uchida, Royal Festival Hall

Sebastian Scotney Friday, 17 October 2014

Pianist Mitsuko Uchida's concentration, calm and grace under pressure are an inspiration. Towards the end of the first piece on her programme, played to a packed Royal Festival Hall last night, the quiet but insistent high-pitched screech of a fire alarm kept going off. Low voices on walkie-talkies at the entrances to the hall were also audible.

Comment

Sioned Williams, Purcell Room

David Nice Wednesday, 15 October 2014

What Anne-Sophie Mutter is to the violin, Alison Balsom to the trumpet and Sabine Meyer to the clarinet, so is Sioned Williams to the harp. Though Meyer had the glass-ceiling distinction of being the first woman in the Berlin Philharmonic, Williams’s service to the BBC Symphony Orchestra has been longer (nearly 25 years so far as principal harp).

Meyer, BBCPO, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

philip Radcliffe Sunday, 12 October 2014

Staying close to his Scandinavian roots, John Storgårds, principal guest conductor of the BBC Phil and chief conductor of the Helsinki Phil, is gearing up for the celebration of Carl Nielsen’s 150th birthday next year. Being the seventh child of 12, Nielsen battled his way from poor beginnings to musical eminence, serving his time on the way as a military bandsman and, for 16 years, as a violinist in the Royal Danish Orchestra.

Comment

Cargill, Yoshino, SCO, Ticciati, Usher Hall, Edinburgh

Christopher Lambton Friday, 10 October 2014

“Mahler, with a chamber orchestra?” In his introduction to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s winter season brochure, principal conductor Robin Ticciati anticipates the reaction of an audience brought up to believe that a chamber orchestra leaves its comfort zone somewhere in the early 19th Century.