Classical Reviews
Virtuoso Violinists at the BBC, BBC FourSaturday, 12 March 2016
Virtuoso Violinists was an hour of unalloyed informative pleasure that toured televised highlights of great violinists playing great music. Its painless excursion into the western classical canon reminded us why the BBC is the NHS of culture, and we delighted here in a guide who proved as accomplished a presenter as she is a performer of genius. Read more... |
Seong-Jin Cho, St John's Smith Square, LondonSaturday, 12 March 2016
It’s always heartening to see a full house for a debut recital, though when expectations run so high, the stakes for the pianist can be dangerously raised. No worries at St John’s Smith Square, though, for Seong-Jin Cho. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky, Diana AmbacheSaturday, 12 March 2016
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Ibragimova, SCO, Krivine, Usher Hall, EdinburghFriday, 11 March 2016
It was to have been the culmination of principal conductor Robin Ticciati’s Brahms symphony cycle with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. But with Ticciati laid up with a herniated disc, we’re told, it fell to the SCO’s principal guest conductor Emmanuel Krivine to step in at the last minute. What Ticciati would have made of the concert, and of the concluding Brahms Fourth, of course, we’ll never know – and it would be churlish to speculate. Read more... |
Vassallo, CBSO, Chauhan, Symphony Hall BirminghamThursday, 10 March 2016
Funny thing, musical fashion. Most listeners would call Borodin’s Polovtsian Dances a popular classic – yet before tonight, I doubt they’d had a professional performance in Birmingham this century. Then there’s the case of Osvaldo Golijov. Remember him? Read more... |
Andsnes and Friends 2, Dulwich Picture GalleryWednesday, 09 March 2016
Nature, nationalism, folk culture: the broad themes of Norway’s visual arts map easily onto its music. That has given Leif Ove Andsnes and his colleagues plenty of leeway in planning their musical tributes to the painter Nikolai Astrup. Read more... |
Andsnes and Friends at the Astrup Exhibition, Dulwich Picture GalleryTuesday, 08 March 2016
It's rare that a sponsor does more than stump up the money for culture and sometimes request a mention in a review (usually ignored). Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Chagrin, Dukas, MozartSaturday, 05 March 2016
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Williams, Janiczek, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Queen's Hall, EdinburghFriday, 04 March 2016
Just a few days earlier, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra had been doing a pretty convincing impression of a symphony orchestra in a powerful Vaughan Williams Fifth Symphony under John Storgårds. And here they were, in crisp, nimble Mozart and Beethoven, being a thoroughly convincing period band – well, with valveless horns, at least. They’re nothing if not versatile. Read more... |
Kelemen, BBCSO, Wigglesworth, BarbicanThursday, 03 March 2016
In the deep recesses of my brain lies a distant memory of an early lesson in musical appreciation in primary school. Excerpts from Beethoven’s "Pastoral" Symphony were being played. The teacher asked us what images came to mind. The answers came fairly quickly, prodded by the music’s title: a babbling brook, a thunderstorm, twittering birds. I was on my way. Read more... |
Bach: The French Suites Peter Hill (piano) (Delphian)
Francis Chagrin: Symphonies 1 and 2 BBC Symphony Orchestra/Martyn Brabbins (Naxos)Pages
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