Classical Reviews
Osborne, Aurora Orchestra, Kings Place review – live music that lives and breathesSunday, 13 December 2020
Like a hokey-cokey, we’re back to live music in London – but for how long? I overheard another audience member explaining it was her third time at Kings Place this week, as people cram in as many concerts as possible before a feared return to cultural lockdown. Read more... |
Kanneh-Mason Trio/Cassadó Ensemble, Kings Place review - the fewer the players, the greater the musicSaturday, 12 December 2020
For the performers and the venue there can be nothing but praise. To be back in Kings Place’s Hall One after so long was to realise afresh that no other London venue gives such air to soaring strings – and these ones truly did soar and gleam. For the programme, not quite so much. Read more... |
Williams, Hallé, Elder online review - big results from small forcesSaturday, 12 December 2020
The second of the Hallé’s Winter Season concerts-on-film is scarcely less ground-breaking than the first. But this time we are in the orchestra’s second home, the former church now extended to be Hallé St Peter’s in the regenerated part of Manchester's city centre. Read more... |
Higham, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Emelyanychev online review - I should rococoFriday, 11 December 2020
Although this streamed concert from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra featured the music of Schubert and Tchaikovsky, the ghost at the feast was Mozart, the acknowledged inspiration behind the two main pieces. Read more... |
Paul Lewis, Wigmore Hall review – Classical consolationsThursday, 10 December 2020
The key of C minor threw a dark shadow over music long before it became the tonality for Beethoven to express the struggle of one against many in the Fifth Symphony and the Third Piano Concerto. Read more... |
Fast Food, Fast Music, Spitalfields Festival online - sizzling, scintillating fun and masteryWednesday, 09 December 2020
A good idea on paper – commission composers of all ages who happen to be women to write music for one, two or three instruments with the fundamental theme of swiftness and brevity, food element an optional extra – turns out to work brilliantly on screen, even if it was originally destined for a live lunchtime festival event. Read more... |
Doric Quartet, Wigmore Hall review – sombre reflectionsWednesday, 09 December 2020
With the wealth of online performances during the pandemic, it is easy to forget the regular offerings from the Wigmore Hall. The Hall found itself in a better position than most, as it was able to present its autumn schedule largely unchanged, the only programming issues arising from international travel limitations for the performers. Read more... |
Mofidian, Britten Sinfonia, Elder, Saffron Hall review - meditations and mirthTuesday, 08 December 2020
How strange to experience Saffron Walden’s amazingly high-standard new(ish) concert hall without the usual auditorium – in other words no tiered rows other than in the balcony, but seats around tables, on a level with the musicians (pictured below, the scene before the performance). And what a world-class concert this was, not the sort of thing you’d usually expect at the end of a misty afternoon’s ramble in the Essex countryside. Read more... |
Fatma Said, Joseph Middleton, Wigmore Hall review - song recital heavenTuesday, 08 December 2020
This was the first song recital back at the Wigmore Hall following the second lockdown with a (distanced, 25%) audience. And it was a joy to be back. Great singing. That superb acoustic. A completely rapt audience. And, miraculously, not a single cough. Read more... |
Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester online review - re-consecration of the houseFriday, 04 December 2020
The Hallé have been slow off the mark, compared with some, in their response to the challenge of concert-giving in the Covid era. But now that they have delivered on the first of their winter season performances, it has clearly been worth the wait. Read more... |
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