LPO
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Richard Rodney Bennett, SibeliusSaturday, 13 October 2012
Bach: The Well-Tempered Clavier András Schiff (ECM)András Schiff was a finalist in the 1975 Leeds International Piano Competition. He came third – presumably having confounded expectations by playing Bach’s D minor keyboard concerto instead of... Read more... |
War and Peace: Russian National Orchestra, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallSaturday, 06 October 2012
Can two half-orchestras playing together ever be better than one well-established organism? The second and third concerts in yet another special project masterminded by Vladimir Jurowski, drawing together British and Russian perspectives on war and... Read more... |
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallSunday, 30 September 2012
What, another review of an LPO/Jurowski concert in less than a week? Reasoning the need, it only has to be said that other orchestras may kick off their seasons by mixing the unfamiliar with core repertoire, but none would dare launch with not one... Read more... |
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 27 September 2012
Dissatisfied housewives who eventually stand by their men joined jewelled hands in a divine evening of operatic decadence. Suppressed Bianca all but steps over the body of her strangled lover to get at the muscles of her killer husband in Zemlinsky’... Read more... |
Ravel Double Bill, Glyndebourne Festival OperaSunday, 05 August 2012
Ravel composed only two operas, both one-acters, widely separated in time, superficially very different, but both in a way about the same thing: naughtiness. In L’Heure espagnole (1911), the clockmaker’s wife, Conceptión, entertains a succession of... Read more... |
Le nozze di Figaro, Glyndebourne Festival OperaSaturday, 30 June 2012
It's amazing how long it takes to realise that we're in the 1970s in Michael Grandage's new Glyndebourne production of Le nozze di Figaro. The mansion house suggests that we're in the 18th century. The light and latticework says we're in Mozart's... Read more... |
Alternative National AnthemsSaturday, 30 June 2012
With Euro 2012 about to end and the Olympics looming, we'll be hearing an awful lot of national anthems over the next couple of months. Don't we all agree that the majority of them are inadequate - often being turgid tunes with no reference to the... Read more... |
La Cenerentola, Glyndebourne Festival OperaThursday, 24 May 2012
Rossini's La Cenerentola is not an opera that I'd normally recommend to anyone with even half a brain. It takes the simple if mildly nauseating little tale of Cinderella, pads it out with parental abuse and drawn out cliffhangers, and ends in a pass... Read more... |
Helmchen, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 03 May 2012
Two more contrasting pianists than Yuja Wang and Martin Helmchen would be hard to find. To move within 24 hours from the glittering assault of Wang’s technique to the restrained, almost introverted, Helmchen is an exercise in extremes, and one that... Read more... |
Currie, LPO, Vänskä, Royal Festival HallThursday, 19 April 2012
A mischievous part of me firmly believes that from the mountain of dubious art works produced in the world since the 1980s, the most dubious of all have been the percussion concertos. I know I’m being somewhat harsh, for I’ve thrilled along with... Read more... |
The best and worst national anthems? Time to award the medalsSunday, 15 April 2012
The onerous task of recording all 205 national anthems for playing at the Olympics medal ceremonies has fallen on the London Philharmonic Orchestra. An edited group of 36 players has recorded the anthems at the Abbey Road Studios in 60 gruelling... Read more... |
Bell, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 23 February 2012
Despite the best attempts of Stephen Johnson’s programme notes to create synthesis from last night’s London Philharmonic Orchestra concert, there was something rather smash and grab about the programming. It was as though Jurowski, suddenly inspired... Read more... |
