Classical Reviews
Tenebrae, Short, Wigmore Hall online review - reflections for Holy WeekWednesday, 31 March 2021
A year into the pandemic, it is hard to imagine anybody relishing the prosect of Lenten austerity. But the liturgical calendar trundles on, and here we are in Holy Week. The aptly named Tenebrae Choir, under conductor Nigel Short here offer a traditional Lent programme, mostly solemn but with a few lighter numbers. Read more... |
Lewis, Hallé, Thórarinsdóttir online review - serenity and spiceFriday, 26 March 2021
For the newest performance of their part-postponed “Winter Season” on film, the Hallé return to their rehearsal and performance centre in Ancoats, and with the help of piano soloist-director Paul Lewis and guest leader-director Eva Thórarinsdóttir offer a display of the capability of their orchestra members as chamber musicians. Read more... |
Isata Kanneh-Mason, Hallé, Elder online review - triumphant film returnFriday, 19 March 2021
Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé are back in the Bridgewater Hall for the first programme in the second tranche of the orchestra’s digital Winter Season – filming that had to be postponed from its original planned date but is triumphantly achieved now. As before, the full orchestra is accommodated with a monster extension of the platform to allow for adequate distancing. Read more... |
Steven Osborne 50th Birthday Concert, Wigmore Hall online – perfect symmetriesMonday, 15 March 2021
Some pianists would take the chance of a birthday celebration to pioneer a solitary epic. Not the ever-collegial, unshowy, some would even say visionary Steven Osborne. Read more... |
Myaskovsky Dialogues, Yekaterinburg online review - revival and revelationWednesday, 10 March 2021
The reputation of Nikolai Myaskovsky has long been cast into shadow by the more exportable extroversion of his contemporaries Prokofiev and Shostakovich. Read more... |
Levit, Berlin Philharmoniker, Paavo Järvi, Digital Concert Hall review - optimal light and darkTuesday, 09 March 2021
It seems right that (arguably) the greatest orchestra in the world has (unarguably) the best livestreaming and archive service. Read more... |
Pushkin House Music Festival online review - Russian around BloomsburyMonday, 08 March 2021
Sergey Prokofiev died on 5 March 1953, on the same day as Stalin. Perhaps that uncomfortable coincidence makes March the perfect time for a festival of Russian music. Pushkin House, the Russian cultural centre based in a Georgian villa in Bloomsbury, is holding one right now. Read more... |
Two LSO concerts on Marquee TV review - vibrant triptychesFriday, 05 March 2021
In amongst the heavy-hearted duty of supporting orchestras by watching their concert streamings – not something I’d do by choice – there are two real joys here. One is the discovery of Austrian composer Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony of 1916. Read more... |
Gillam, Manchester Camerata, Kuusisto, Stoller Hall online review - calm and exhilarationMonday, 01 March 2021
Manchester Camerata’s performance with Jess Gillam at Chetham’s School of Music was filmed in private on 9 January (and the sound was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on the 19th), but to see it in its full visual glory we had to wait until a one-off... Read more... |
Urioste, Aurora Orchestra, Kings Place online review - superb musicianship in compelling close-upSaturday, 27 February 2021
The clever programming of the “Unwrapped” series has been transformational for the reputation of Kings Place. Ever since the Bach series in 2013 these year-long sequences of concerts and other events have succeeded in silencing the crustier commentators, and in putting the London arts venue properly on the map. Read more... |
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