Classical Reviews

BBC Proms: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chailly

Geoff Brown Monday, 03 September 2012

If you’re going to bash a tam-tam for six, the Albert Hall is the perfect place to do it. The reverberation lasts for ages; and everyone in the audience can see you bashing. That must explain in part why Messiaen’s hieratic, gong-crazy Et expecto resurrectionem mortuorum has notched up 10 Prom performances in 45 years.

BBC Proms: Cameron Carpenter/ Znaider, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Chailly

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Sunday, 02 September 2012

I'd love to see the stats on the last time a Prom was this packed for an afternoon organ recital. Were it not for the fact that organist Cameron Carpenter was sporting spandex trousers encrusted in silver glitter, a wife beater and Mohawk, you could have been mistaken for thinking we were back in the organ glory days of the early 19th century.

Comment

Upshaw, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Cadogan Hall

alexandra Coghlan Sunday, 02 September 2012

“Well that was bloody fantastic,” a broad Aussie accent declared from somewhere behind me at the end of Ravel’s String Quartet in F major. And that’s the thing with the Australian Chamber Orchestra – it’s just that simple.

BBC Proms: Bronfman, Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle

Geoff Brown Saturday, 01 September 2012

Champagne on ice in the private boxes; scarcely any spare seats. This isn’t the normal situation for a concert climaxing in Witold Lutosławski’s Third Symphony, a modernist work whose usual audience is more than two men and a dog but still doesn’t pull in the crowds.

Comment

BBC Proms: Berlin Philharmonic, Rattle

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Friday, 31 August 2012

It's not completely unheard of what Sir Simon Rattle did at the start of last night's Prom, where he elided two familiar works - Ligeti's colouristic classic Atmosphères and the Prelude to Act One of Wagner's Lohengrin - into a seamless whole, beating without stopping from one in

BBC Proms: BBCSO, Brabbins/Eric Whitacre Singers, Heap, Whitacre

alexandra Coghlan Thursday, 30 August 2012

Eric Whitacre – less a composer or conductor, more a global choral phenomenon. Just the mention of his name in last night’s concert introduction drew whoops and wolf-whistles from the crowd, certainly not a reaction you tend to get for Beethoven, Boulez or Cage (though perhaps the latter gets a silent cheer).

BBC Proms: Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester, Gatti

alexandra Coghlan Monday, 27 August 2012

In a festival season as long as the BBC Proms there are always going to be some longueurs, weeks where the orchestral playing is more adequate than astonishing. Get stuck in one of these and it’s easy to start doubting your ears, to wonder whether six weeks of orchestral assault have dulled them. Then you hear an ensemble like the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester.

Comment

BBC Proms: Peter Grimes, English National Opera/ BBC Symphony Orchestra, Knussen

Igor Toronyi-Lalic Sunday, 26 August 2012

After the all-singing, all-dancing, all-helicoptering brilliance of Stockhausen Mittwoch aus Licht, the dry routine of an opera in concert didn't seem a very enticing prospect. That's the problem with this year's Cultural Olympiad. We're becoming very spoilt by it. What should have been a mouth-watering prospect - a fantastic cast performing a great opera - suddenly began to feel run-of-the-mill when compared to the once-in-a-lifetime event that was Mittwoch.

Classical CDs Weekly: Dubois, Sam Hayden, Liszt

graham Rickson Saturday, 25 August 2012

Théodore Dubois: Piano Concerto no 2, Ouverture de Frithiof, Dixtuor Les Siècles/François-Xavier Roth (Musicales Actes Sud)

BBC Proms: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Petrenko

Kimon Daltas Friday, 24 August 2012

Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ Ninth Symphony, completed in 2012 and heard in London for the first time in this concert, is dedicated to the Queen on her Diamond Jubilee. Those are not words to strike eager anticipation into my heart , though I’m happy to say that being Master of the Queen’s Music doesn’t appear to have dulled the composer’s powers in the way the equivalent title seems to nobble poets. Indeed, the dedication is merely that, and the work is no winsome tribute.