Royal Albert Hall
Prom 13 review: Rana, BBCSO, Davis – Malcolm Sargent tribute lacks punchTuesday, 25 July 2017
Ten days ago I reviewed the First Night of the 2017 Proms. Last night I was back at the Royal Albert Hall to hear the First Night of the 1966 Proms. This time-capsule experience was courtesy of a re-enactment of Sir Malcolm Sargent’s 500th Prom, in... Read more... |
Prom 10 review: Aurora Orchestra, Collon – a revolution taken to heartMonday, 24 July 2017
When a trail-blazing orchestra takes on a world-transforming work, it would be pointless to leave the staid old rules of concert etiquette intact. Not only did the Aurora Orchestra under Nicholas Collon stretch their repertoire of symphonies... Read more... |
Prom 9 review: Fidelio, BBCPO, Mena - classy prison drama rarely blazesSaturday, 22 July 2017
What a pity Beethoven never composed an appendage to Fidelio called The Sorrows of Young Marzelline. One crucial moment apart, the music he gives to his second soprano in his only opera isn't his best, but Louise Alder so lived the role of the... Read more... |
Prom 7 review: Weilerstein, BBCSO, Weilerstein - new cello concerto enthralsThursday, 20 July 2017
It’s at times like this that I give thanks for the Proms. Who else would (or could) have put together a programme pairing Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique with an 18th-century sonic fantasy, or topped it off with a substantial UK premiere? A bit... Read more... |
Prom 6: Benedetti, BBC NOW, Søndergård - dazzling violin magicWednesday, 19 July 2017
Nicola Benedetti was the star of this show, no doubt about that. She is a Proms regular and favourite, attracting a large and enthusiastic audience, the Royal Albert Hall filled almost to capacity. And she didn’t disappoint, giving a performance of... Read more... |
Prom 3: Faust, COE, Haitink - Europeans tread air under 88-year-old masterMonday, 17 July 2017
The message must be getting through. On the First Night of the Proms, Igor Levit played as encore Liszt's transcription of the great Beethoven melody appropriated as the European Anthem; in Prom 2, Daniel Barenboim unleashed his Staatskapelle Berlin... Read more... |
Prom 1 review: Levit, BBCSO, Gardner - fizzing Adams finally ignites mixed First NightSaturday, 15 July 2017
The ideal First Night of the Proms sets the tone for the season, perhaps flagging up some of the themes to be followed up later, offering a blend of novelty and familiarity, and preferably ending with a roof-raising choral blockbuster. This... Read more... |
Pick of the 2017 BBC Proms: from Orthodox chant to Oklahoma!Saturday, 08 July 2017
It’s the best-looking Proms season on paper for quite a few years. That might just be a different way of saying we like it, but no-one could reproach Director David Pickard for lack of original programming or diversity (look at the whole, bigger... Read more... |
'You are my hero, dear Jiří': Karita Mattila and others remember Jiří BělohlávekWednesday, 07 June 2017
The first of Jiří Bělohlávek’s final three appearances in London, conducting his Czech Philharmonic in a concert performance of Janáček’s Jenůfa, came as a shock. The trademark grey curly hair had vanished. Clearly he had undergone chemotherapy, but... Read more... |
Radio 2 Folk Awards, Royal Albert HallThursday, 06 April 2017
One thing was very clear at Wednesday night’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, held at the Royal Albert Hall – at the moment at least, Scotland has something of a monopoly when it comes to folk music talent. While Desert Island Discs suggests the current... Read more... |
CD: Bob Dylan - The Real Royal Albert Hall ConcertTuesday, 06 December 2016
Hailing a lift in torrential rain one night from an early 2000s Dylan concert at Docklands Arena – that long-gone ghost of a room – I fell into conversation with a fellow passenger who apologetically turned to me, admitting in old-fashioned Received... Read more... |
Grande Messe des Morts, BBCSO, Roth, RAHMonday, 14 November 2016
Lest we forget. On Flanders’ Fields. For the Fallen. No one does stiff-upper-lip, buttoned-up remembrance quite like the English. Since its composition only a little over half a century ago, the War Requiem has become our national anthem for the... Read more... |
