Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Soloists, Wigmore Hall review - superb JanáčekWednesday, 25 May 2022![]() Wigmore Soloists is such a good idea, and still at an early stage of its development. The group brings together top players to perform the wider chamber music repertoire, normally septets and upwards. The hall also gives the players a place they can... Read more... |
Jerusalem Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - shock and sophistication in ideally-proportioned BeethovenFriday, 01 April 2022![]() Three Beethoven quartets, early, middle and late, in a single evening – inevitably as part of a cycle, like the Jerusalems’ Wigmore Hall triptych last night – is demanding on the audience, supremely tough on the players.We could have left this... Read more... |
Angela Hewitt, Wigmore Hall review - grand tour in a luxury vehicleMonday, 21 March 2022![]() The four years of Angela Hewitt’s globe-trotting “Bach Odyssey” confirmed time and again that she brings a nonpareil artistry and authority to the most demanding, and rewarding, of all keyboard repertoires. Yet the Canadian pianist, as we already... Read more... |
Simon Trpčeski and Friends, Wigmore Hall online review – chamber music classics old and newTuesday, 08 March 2022![]() The main course of this Wigmore lunchtime concert was Brahms but I was lured in by the dessert: a rare chance in this country to hear the music of the French composer Guillaume Connesson. Macedonian pianist Simon Trpčeski and his international group... Read more... |
Sandrine Piau, David Kadouch, Wigmore Hall review - the joy is in the detailTuesday, 18 January 2022![]() “It mustn’t be a surface thing. You have to put in the work,” Janet Baker once said. Sandrine Piau’s Wigmore recital of German song followed by French song was the perfect demonstration of that credo in action.Whereas Piau described the repertoire,... Read more... |
Solomon's Knot, Wigmore Hall review - festive music for uncertain timesTuesday, 21 December 2021![]() It had been a tense week, explained Jonathan Sells, the artistic director and bass-baritone of Solomon’s Knot, from the stage of the Wigmore Hall: unsure if the concert would go ahead, unsure who exactly would be able to perform, unsure if there... Read more... |
Semenchuk, Skigin, Wigmore Hall review - compelling Tchaikovsky songsTuesday, 07 December 2021![]() This winter's evening spent at Wigmore Hall, completely immersed in performances of songs by Tchaikovsky, was a delight.Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk and pianist Semyon Skigin know these songs profoundly well. They described the proposal thus: “... Read more... |
Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall review - calm waters run deepMonday, 29 November 2021![]() On a night when any brooks running past the Wigmore Hall might have frozen almost solid, Imogen Cooper’s recital travelled on sparkling waters of the highest purity across almost a century of pianistic innovation.As well as the streams and fountains... Read more... |
Smetana Trio, Wigmore Hall / Minerva Piano Trio, Christ Church Kensington review - spirits of delightTuesday, 16 November 2021![]() Comparisons might have been odious between three of the world's most cultured players – pianist Jitka Cechová, violinist Jan Talich and cellist Jan Páleníček of the Smetana Trio – and the young, British-based Minerva Piano Trio (Annie Yim... Read more... |
Takács Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - intimate letters and holy songsTuesday, 09 November 2021![]() The Takács Quartet is hard to pin down. The group was founded in 1975 in Budapest, but since 1983 has been based in Boulder, Colorado. Cellist András Fejér is the only remaining founding member, and the violist, Richard O’Neill, only joined in 2020... Read more... |
Monteverdi Vespers, La Nuova Musica, Bates, Wigmore Hall review - small venue, huge impactWednesday, 27 October 2021![]() I last heard Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin, published in 1610, at Garsington Opera as the summer light of the Chilterns slowly dimmed across an airy auditorium dotted with singers who bathed us in scintillating meteor-showers of sound.... Read more... |
Gerhaher, Faust, Wigmore Hall review - husky shadings and dark huesWednesday, 29 September 2021![]() Christian Gerhaher and a string ensemble led by Isabelle Faust presented here a programme of works with a nocturnal theme. Gerhaher’s voice is an instrument of husky shadings and dark hues, so the night theme seemed wholly appropriate. The impetus... Read more... |
