Classical music
Malofeev, BBCSO, Lintu, Barbican review - finesse as well as fireworksSaturday, 17 February 2024
This was a muesli programme: nutty, crunchy, just sweet enough, its success lying in the balance of the various ingredients. At times, such was the explosiveness of the playing, it felt like popping candy had been added to the muesli, but in a good... Read more... |
Lugansky, Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, Letonja, Cadogan Hall review - Russian soul, French flairWednesday, 14 February 2024
To judge by the post-interval empty seats near me, some of the Cadogan Hall audience had turned up last night solely to hear Nikolai Lugansky play Rachmaninov’s Second Piano Concerto. Well, the more fool them. For sure they would have enjoyed their... Read more... |
Segev, LPO, Lyniv, RFH review - melody, magic, and mourningMonday, 12 February 2024
We began in a forest packed with dangers and delights and ended, also in the Czech lands, with an infectiously joyful country dance. In between, however, came a sombre and spellbinding exposure to the pain and grief of war.Last night at the Royal... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Herd girls, mojitos and mariachiSaturday, 10 February 2024
Paavo Berglund: The Warner Edition (Warner Classics)Jean Sibelius’s presence looms over this box like a friendly giant. Paavo Berglund (interestingly, one of the few left-handed conductors to have achieved international fame) recorded the... Read more... |
Alder, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - strings and soprano sing their hearts outFriday, 09 February 2024
Had it taken place a week later, this concert might have gone under the dubious banner of "Valentine's Day Love Classics". But not of the bitty, Raymond Gubbay variety: Vasily Petrenko was absolute master of three late romantic scores which happened... Read more... |
Verdi's Requiem, Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Pappano, Parco della Musica, Rome review - peak poignancyThursday, 08 February 2024
Antonio Pappano is at a hinge in his illustrious career, as the exciting transfer across London from Covent Garden to the London Symphony Orchestra proceeds, and the word "Emeritus" is added to his title as Music Director of his home-from-home in... Read more... |
Tetzlaff, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - something of a puzzleTuesday, 30 January 2024
Chief conductor John Storgårds’ first programme of 2024 in the Bridgewater Hall was notable for the visit of Christian Tetzlaff as violin soloist, but perhaps a little puzzling in the choice of Thomas Adès’ Violin Concerto as the vehicle for his... Read more... |
Elijah, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - vivid declamation powers Old Testament blockbusterMonday, 29 January 2024
That it would be a vividly operatic kind of oratorio performance was never in doubt. Mendelssohn, who said he wanted to create “a real world, such as you find in every chapter of the Old Testament,” instigates high drama with Elijah’s brass-backed... Read more... |
Williams, Kenny, Wigmore Hall review - an afternoon of early-Baroque blissMonday, 29 January 2024
It’s hard to imagine that any London audience this winter will hear more thoroughly gorgeous singing – or more refined musical artistry all round – than Nardus Williams delivered at the Wigmore Hall on Sunday afternoon. This was a magical hour of... Read more... |
Bartlett, LPO, Bihlmaier, RFH review - a clear path through the stormSunday, 28 January 2024
Tempest-tossed seas seem all too apt a theme for January, so it felt fitting that the LPO decided to begin Saturday evening with Wagner’s stirringly elemental overture to The Flying Dutchman. As the programme note fascinatingly reminded us, he... Read more... |
Paraorchestra, Hazlewood, Southbank Centre review - re-thinking the orchestral experienceSaturday, 27 January 2024
The Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre is usually an open-plan space within the foyer, a little ambiguous in its extent and purpose. Last night, for the first time, I saw it enclosed and separated off, ambiently lit and full of smoke, for the... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Fringes, canons and contestsSaturday, 27 January 2024
Leif Ove Andsnes: The Warner Classics Edition 1990-2010 (Warner Classics)It’s good to review a compendious box set celebrating a musician who’s very much still around. The 36 discs in this set certainly aren’t what you’d call historical... Read more... |
