Mozart
Montgomery, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Queen Elizabeth HallFriday, 26 October 2012
It’s a sadness to all lovers of the French horn that Mozart’s four horn concertos, the product of his longest friendship, make their appearance all too rarely in the concert hall. Though the building blocks of the repertoire, perhaps their apparent... Read more... |
Hahn, LPO, Skrowaczewski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 25 October 2012
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski. That's quite a mouthful. Bruckner's symphonies can be too. But this is one of the reasons why Skrowaczewski has acquired quite a cult following for his Bruckner performances; it's why I once drove all the way to Zurich to... Read more... |
Don Giovanni, English National OperaThursday, 18 October 2012
“Don Giovanni – Coming Soon” winked and nudged the publicity posters for English National Opera’s latest production. And just in case the entendre wasn’t clear they added a picture of a condom. Playful, provocative and just a little bit sordid, it... Read more... |
Così fan tutte, Welsh National OperaThursday, 04 October 2012
For some reason, the Welsh have revived their Così fan tutte, from last year, with positively unseemly haste – if not quite so unseemly as the haste with which their La Bohème, from this spring, was wheeled back on last month barely three months... Read more... |
San Francisco Ballet, Balanchine/ Liang/ Wheeldon, Sadler's Wells TheatreSunday, 16 September 2012
It's been eight years since San Francisco Ballet were last here, charming us with their finesse and their smiles - welcome back. They offer a boost of spirit to the gloomsters of ballet over here. This small city which punches many times above its... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Verbier: Flowers, Cows and Musical StarsFriday, 27 July 2012
Can this really be only an afternoon’s travelling away from traffic-choked London? I’m waist-deep in wild blue lupins on a verdant Swiss mountain looking for a concert hall.A cow’s bell nearby is slightly frustrating - beyond the lupins, I guess, is... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mozart, Ropartz, Sounds of the 30sSaturday, 07 July 2012
Mozart: The Four Horn Concertos Marc Geujon, Orchestre Paul Kuentz/Paul Kuentz (Calliope)Mozart’s horn concertos remain cornerstones of the hornist's repertoire. No one has ever written horn music quite so idiomatic, tuneful and loveable. They... 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... |
Così Fan Tutte, Opera Holland ParkSaturday, 09 June 2012
With the obvious exceptions of Verdi’s twin masterpieces Otello and Falstaff, Così fan tutte is the most Shakespearean of operas. Centuries before anyone invented the term, it’s nothing less than opera’s most elegant study in sexual politics.... Read more... |
Don Giovanni, Garsington OperaThursday, 07 June 2012
For all but two of its 30 years in business, Garsington Opera has had Mozart in each and every season. He's the nearest this company gets to a resident composer. While everything else at the seasonal operation is in flux, their Mozart is a constant... Read more... |
ENO's new 2012/13 season in fullTuesday, 24 April 2012The ENO's 2012/13 season includes premieres from Philip Glass (The Perfect American) and Michel van der Aa (Sunken Garden) and nine new productions from some of today's most iconoclastic stage directors. The Verdi bicentenary begins in the UK... Read more... |
Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, Royal Festival HallTuesday, 17 April 2012
Lightness. Tenderness. Grace. These are not words you normally associate with Barenboim's pianism - not these days. But they were exactly the thoughts running through my head while listening to his performance of Mozart's C minor piano concerto last... Read more... |
