contemporary classical
Miloš Karadaglić, 'the guitar player of the people'Tuesday, 25 November 2014
Compared to grand divas, virtuoso pianists or stupendous fiddlers, legends of the classical guitar have been few in number. Once you've ticked off Segovia, Julian Bream and John Williams you're pretty much done with the household names. This isn't... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Setúbal: Youth and music under the jacarandasWednesday, 02 July 2014
José Mourinho is Setúbal’s most famous son. Non-Portuguese readers are not expected to know the two other celebrities most feted by this extraordinary port city on the estuary of the River Sado, with miles of sandy beaches opposite where a school of... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Reykjavík: Bright Nights, Dark Music DaysSunday, 23 February 2014
Nature declined to reveal the Northern Lights over a long winter weekend in Iceland. My hotel was geared up to the spectacle, offering the option of a phone call any time in the night should they appear; but no call came. I only hope the tourists... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Roxanna Panufnik, Penderecki, eXSaturday, 01 February 2014
Roxanna Panufnik: Tallinn Mass - Dance of Life Patricia Rozario, Jaak Johanson, Tallinn Chamber Orchestra/Mihhail Gerts (Warner)Roxanna Panufnik's Tallinn Mass is an occasional piece, written to celebrate the city's spell as European Capital... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Huddersfield Contemporary Music FestivalMonday, 02 December 2013
If Pizza Huts could speak, the Huddersfield branch would have quite some tale to tell. It was here in the late 1980s, over a deep pan, that one of 20th century music’s great feuds was put to bed, John Cage patching things up with Pierre Boulez, in... Read more... |
György and Márta Kurtág, Queen Elizabeth HallMonday, 02 December 2013
There was a strange moment at the end of yesterday's recital when, having exhausted their repertoire, octogenarians György and Márta Kurtág began to look around anxiously, wondering what more they could offer us. They eyed each other, then us,... Read more... |
Sonica, GlasgowSaturday, 23 November 2013
At first it looked like a joke. But, as each muscle spasm, set off by an electric shock, did appear to produce a pained expression in the performer and a subsequent note, one slowly had to accept that these four string quartet players were indeed... Read more... |
Philip Glass/Steve Reich, Royal Festival HallMonday, 11 November 2013
The Southbank’s artistic director Jude Kelly was out in force at this penultimate weekend of The Rest is Noise festival, delivering little triumphalist, Ryan Air-like fanfares, reminding us how pioneering they had been to programme composers... Read more... |
The Swingle Singers, São Paulo Symphony Orchestra, Alsop, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 26 October 2013
Anyone who saw or attended this year’s Last Night of the Proms will know that Marin Alsop is a born communicator with a wry sense of humour. Another of those youthful crowds The Rest is Noise festival keeps attracting gave her a hero’s welcome last... Read more... |
Stockhausen/Nono, Royal Festival HallMonday, 07 October 2013
There’s been a lot of backslapping over the success (so far) of The Rest is Noise festival, the Southbank’s year-long trawl through the music of the 20th century. They’re particularly pleased about the numbers of ignorant musical souls they’ve... Read more... |
The Wasp Factory, Linbury Studio TheatreThursday, 03 October 2013
A baby's brain is polished off by a throbbing welter of maggots. A field of sheep are on fire. A screaming child whose hands have been tied to a kite is flying out over the North Sea. How do you make an opera out of any of this? The answer of course... Read more... |
The Importance of Being Earnest, Linbury Studio TheatreSaturday, 15 June 2013
If you were new to contemporary opera, you might think it was forbidden for modern works to be funny. Tragedy is still the default setting for major commissions. You only get serious money if you have serious thoughts and serious music, it seems. At... Read more... |
