France
Prom 72/3: Aurora Orchestra, Collon review – Berlioz not quite lost in showbizFriday, 13 September 2019
For a few seconds last night, the Royal Albert Hall turned into London’s biggest – and cheesiest – disco. At the end of the Ball movement in the Aurora Orchestra’s dramatised version of the Symphonie Fantastique, Berlioz’s tipsily lurching waltz... Read more... |
The Shiny Shrimps review - worth the plungeSaturday, 07 September 2019
Whoever thought of crossing the social conscience of Pride with the sporting acumen of Dodgeball? Out of this unlikely union comes The Shiny Shrimps, a joyous dive into the world of gay water polo. Though it follows your typical obscure sports... Read more... |
Prom 44: Finley, LSO & Chorus, Orfeó Català, Rattle review - lurid inter-war triptychWednesday, 21 August 2019
So the Proms ignored the Berlioz anniversary challenge to perform his Requiem and serve up four brass bands at the points of the Albert Hall compass. Yet at least last night in works of the 1920s and 1930s we got one offstage in the crazed baggy-... Read more... |
Transit review - existential nightmares for a German refugeeSaturday, 17 August 2019
If you’re looking for escapism from anxieties about Brexit, the worldwide refugee crisis and rising authoritarianism, Christian Petzold’s Transit is not going to provide comfort. Adapted from Anna Segher’s 1944 novel about a Jewish writer fleeing... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Gounod, James MacMillan, Johannes PramsohlerSaturday, 17 August 2019
Gounod: Symphonies 1 and 2 Iceland Symphony Orchestra/Yan Pascal Tortelier (Chandos)Roger Nichols’ lucid sleeve note underlines the point that Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique singularly failed to kick off a 19th century French symphonic... Read more... |
theartsdesk at Itinéraire Baroque 2019 - a musical journey through the PérigordMonday, 05 August 2019
We’ve all had the experience of wandering into a church, only to discover it filled unexpectedly with music: the choir rehearsing for Evensong, a local orchestra practising, a soprano and organist getting ready for a weekend wedding. This spirit of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Isabelle Aboulker, Swan Hennessy, SchubertSaturday, 03 August 2019
Isabelle Aboulker: Mélodies/Songs en français and in English Julia Kogan (soprano), Isabelle Aboulker (piano) (First Hand Records)Never heard of Isabelle Aboulker? Now in her 80th year, she's worked as a choral director and a singing... Read more... |
L'Arlesiana, Opera Holland Park review - at last, a rare Italian gemFriday, 26 July 2019
So many second-rate Italian operas with good bits have been served up by Opera Holland Park and glitzier UK companies; despite best intentions and fine execution, none of the works by Mascagni, Zandonai, Alfano, Leoni, Ponchielli or Giordano has... Read more... |
Varda by Agnès review - a richly moving film farewellFriday, 19 July 2019
French director Agnès Varda looks back over a cinematic career of seven decades in this a richly moving film farewell, finished not long before her death at the end of March, aged 90. It’s structured around a series of masterclasses in which she... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: SauvageSaturday, 22 June 2019
Anyone who saw Félix Maritaud playing the angry activist Max in Robin Campillo’s Paris ACT UP drama 120 BPM will certainly remember him (main picture). He came to the film as a non-professional, from an arts student background, and builds on that... Read more... |
Manon Lescaut, Opera Holland Park review - attempt to empower commodified woman falls flatWednesday, 05 June 2019
"Waiting is always wearisome," declare the socialites as glitter-and-be-gay Manon Lescaut receives in the home of her nasty old "protector" Geronte. Despite the numerous sugar-plums Puccini weaves into his first fluent operatic masterpiece, waiting... Read more... |
Cannes 2019: Week One - a genre-heavy openingSunday, 19 May 2019
Every year the Cannes Film Festival is a swirl of chaos, excitement, and controversy. Last year, the festival had a markedly different feel. Gone were the big starry names. Replacing them were less glitzy films that were given a chance to shine.... Read more... |
