Classical music
Andrej Power, LSO, Mäkelä, Barbican review - singing, shrieking rites of darkness and lightMonday, 11 November 2024
Out of innumerable Rite of Springs in half a century of concert-going, I’ll stick my neck out and say this was the most ferocious in execution, the richest in sound. Others may have wanted a faster, lighter Rite. But the two things that make every... Read more... |
Mailley-Smith, Piccadilly Sinfonietta, St Mary-le-Strand review - music in a resurgent venueSaturday, 09 November 2024
Until 2022, the lovely 18th century church of St Mary-le-Strand was a traffic island, ignored and unloved and rarely visited. Then came the pedestrianisation of the section of the Strand outside Somerset House, transforming the area from somewhere... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Mandolins, multiphonics and multiple pianosSaturday, 09 November 2024
Brahms: Piano Sonata No. 1, Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy Alexandre Kantorow (piano) (BIS)I’d previously encountered pianist Alexandre Kantorow via his exuberant set of Saint-Saëns piano concertos, sparky, lovable performances conducted by his... Read more... |
Kolesnikov, Hallé, Elts, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the dude who dazzlesFriday, 08 November 2024
Pavel Kolesnikov returned to the Hallé last night with a bobby-dazzler of a concerto. He’s a laid-back dude in appearance, with no tie, flapping jacket and cool appearance – quite a contrast with the full evening dress worn by the orchestra members... Read more... |
Fauré Centenary Concert 5, Wigmore Hall review - a final flightWednesday, 06 November 2024
As Steven Isserlis announced just before the final work, in more senses than one, of a five-day revelation, the 79 year old Fauré’s last letter told his wife that “at the moment I am well, very well, despite the little bout of fatigue which is... Read more... |
Ohlsson, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - grace and power in BrahmsTuesday, 05 November 2024
The BBC Philharmonic were right to bill Garrick Ohlsson, soloist in Brahms’ Piano Concerto No. 1, as the main attraction in Saturday’s concert.The septuagenarian American is a force of nature and an exceptional artist: his playing of Rachmaninov in... Read more... |
Fauré Centenary Concert 1, Wigmore Hall review - Isserlis and friends soarMonday, 04 November 2024
Earlier this year, Steven Isserlis curated a revelatory Sheffield Chamber Music Festival spotlighting Saint-Saëns, with plentiful Fauré towards the end. Now it’s the younger composer’s turn, marking his death 100 years ago on 4 November 1924, but... Read more... |
'His ideal worlds embraced me with their light and love': violinist Irène Duval on the music of FauréSaturday, 02 November 2024
"I always enjoy seeing sunlight play on the rocks, the water, the trees and plains. What variety of effects, what brilliance and what softness... I wish my music could show as much diversity." Gabriel Fauré, who wrote those words and is indisputably... Read more... |
Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, La Nuova Musica, Bates, Wigmore Hall review - thrilling Handel at full throttleSaturday, 02 November 2024
Last time I saw the lovelorn Cyclops from Handel’s richly turbulent cantata, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo, he was in a warehouse at Trinity Buoy Wharf earlier this year, posturing moodily as an Italian film director. The London Handel Festival’s... Read more... |
Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - Bruckner’s Ninth completedMonday, 28 October 2024
Kahchun Wong’s third Bridgewater Hall concert with the Hallé in his inaugural season as principal conductor consisted of just one work: Bruckner’s Symphony no. 9 – but not in the incomplete three-movement version that until quite recently has been... Read more... |
The Orchestral Forest, Smith Square Hall review - living the orchestra from the insideSaturday, 26 October 2024
What’s it like to be in the middle of an orchestra, hugger-mugger with the violas, looking directly over the flautist’s shoulder? Last night’s immersive concert by Sinfonia Smith Square gave the us the chance to find out, the players spread around... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Leaves, prisms and sub-bassSaturday, 26 October 2024
Schubert: Sonata in G major D. 894, Moments Musicaux D. 780, Fantasy in F minor D. 940 Maurizio Pollini, Daniele Pollini (pianos) (Deutsche Grammophon)What a superb cover image for the last recording by Maurizio Pollini (1942-2024). Pollini ‘... Read more... |
