Classical music
Gabetta, NHK SO, Järvi, RFH review - transparency and dynamismTuesday, 25 February 2020
This concert represented the British leg of the NHK Symphony Orchestra’s European tour. Tokyo’s radio orchestra is Japan’s flagship ensemble, and they are fine advocates for the country’s thriving musical culture, the playing precise and the tone... Read more... |
Joanna MacGregor, Adrian Brendel, Gildas Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - gold and silverTuesday, 25 February 2020
Startlingly high levels of expression and focused fire made this rich concert worthy of the dedicatee who radiated those qualities, Jacqueline du Pré. Beyond even that, this Wigmore Hall special was an oddly synaesthesic experience – or maybe I'm... Read more... |
Aimard, Gürzenich-Orchester Köln, Roth, RFH review - Beethoven as avant-gardistSaturday, 22 February 2020
In Beethoven anniversary year, there are three ways to enhance our ongoing concert dialogues with the composer beyond the bog-standard overture-concerto-symphony format: complete cycles of the quartets, symphonies and sonatas, preferably without old... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Bruckner, Notice RecordingsSaturday, 22 February 2020
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 1-32 Igor Levit (Sony)“Beethoven paid no attention at all to the conventions of his own time In fact, he only ever wrote music for the future.” One strength of Igor Levit’s magnificent traversal of Beethoven’s piano... Read more... |
Andsnes, Mahler Chamber Orchestra Soloists, Wigmore Hall review - conversations with MozartFriday, 21 February 2020
Leif Ove Andsnes’s long-term partnership with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra has already yielded rich fruit, and the Mozart quartets and trio he performed last night with members of the top-notch nomad band proved just as succulent. However, I would... Read more... |
Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony, Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - big picture, stunning detailsFriday, 21 February 2020
So many performances of Mahler's most theatrical symphony every season, so few conductors who have something radically fresh to say about it. Two who do are London Philharmonic Orchestra chief Vladimir Jurowski, perfecting his vision over the years... Read more... |
Frang, CBSO, Yamada, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - the tingle factorThursday, 20 February 2020
There’s a particular moment of a particular recording – I suppose every slightly over-obsessive record collector has one – that I just keep listening to over and over again. It’s in Fritz Reiner’s 1960 Chicago Symphony recording of Respighi’s The... Read more... |
Michael Collins, Michael McHale, London Winds, Wigmore Hall review - flying the flag for wind chamber musicTuesday, 18 February 2020
In a week when my colleague Jessica Duchen was delighted by the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, last night’s concert, also at Wigmore Hall, by Michael Collins and London Winds showed that chamber music with winds need not be the poor relation of... Read more... |
Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective, Wigmore Hall review - a joyous celebrationMonday, 17 February 2020
Nobody could deny that this was a weekend when we needed cheering up. The place for that was the Wigmore Hall, which played host to a recently formed “shape-shifting” ensemble of superb young soloists. The Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective was... Read more... |
Elysian Singers, SPCMH, Sam Laughton, St Luke’s, Chelsea review - John Cage and friends given a rare airingMonday, 17 February 2020
In my reviewing for theartsdesk I like as much as possible to ski off-piste, reaching areas of repertoire, performer and venue that mainstream coverage doesn't. There is much great music-making that flies, to mix my metaphors, under the radar, but... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Magnard, SkemptonSaturday, 15 February 2020
Brahms: The Orchestral Music Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Kurt Masur (Decca Eloquence)Conductor Kurt Masur's role in Germany’s reunification has tended to obscure his musical strengths. I'd previously dismissed him as a safe, reliable pair... Read more... |
Acis and Galatea, The Sixteen, Christophers, Cadogan Hall review – pocket-sized pastoral pleasuresWednesday, 12 February 2020
Nymphs and shepherds – go away? In music, as in art or literature, the pastoral fripperies of the Baroque age can feel utterly alien to modern tastes. Those dalliances, seductions and abductions in the Arcadian landscapes of myth may cease to entice... Read more... |
