Classical music
Classical CDs Weekly: Eller, Musorgsky, RachmaninovSaturday, 08 February 2020
Heino Eller: Symphonic Poems – Night Calls, White Night, Twilight, Dawn Estonian National Symphony Orchestra/Olari Elts (Ondine)Heino Eller was described as the ‘Estonian Sibelius’ in the first decades of the last century. Predictably, the... Read more... |
Garvey, Quatuor Zaïde, Classical Vauxhall review - vibrant chamber music for allFriday, 07 February 2020
Three concerts, three fascinating venues, seven world-class young(ish) players, an audience of all ages and a musical storytelling event for 200 schoolchildren: this is how to launch a festival with outwardly modest means. Artistic Director of... Read more... |
Buniatishvili, RPO, Wigglesworth, RFH review – dark drama and controlled powerWednesday, 05 February 2020
Visiting conductor Mark Wigglesworth is a good match for the Royal Philharmonic. The orchestra’s repertoire is usually at the popular end of the spectrum, so they know how to make the most of a good tune. Wigglesworth gives the players the space to... Read more... |
Beethoven Weekender, Barbican review - genius at work and playTuesday, 04 February 2020
Where to begin with the most appropriated musician in history? The Barbican’s Beethoven 250 celebrations got off to an auspicious start with a weekend of events, styled like a pop festival, which nonetheless put the composer back where he belonged... Read more... |
Lu, Orchestre National de Lille, Bloch, Leeds Town Hall - polish and precision in Ravel and DebussyMonday, 03 February 2020
French orchestras haven’t sounded distinctively Gallic for decades; François-Xavier Roth’s brilliant period band Les Siécles does use idiosyncratic French instruments but their polish and sheen is very modern. Still, close your eyes while Alexandre... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: William Mathias, Vaughan Williams, Judith WeirSaturday, 01 February 2020
William Mathias: Choral Music St John’s Voices, The Gentlemen of St John’s, Graham Walker (director) (Naxos)I've a soft spot for neglected instruments, so any CD which includes a credit for chime bars is all right with me. Here they're... Read more... |
Young people's guides to the orchestra: the making of 'Not Now, Bernard & Other Stories'Friday, 31 January 2020
"Let’s make an album” is an easy thing to say but an infinitely more difficult thing to actually make happen. But at some point in early 2016 conductor Tom Hammond said it to me (or I said it to him, we can’t remember which) and four years later Not... Read more... |
Denis Kozhukhin, QEH review - lyric mastery and subtle eleganceThursday, 30 January 2020
In Beethoven anniversary year, there will probably be many more "Moonlight"s, meaning the Sonata, than the real thing (though we've been lucky to see the crescent in close conjunction with Venus these past two nights). Not many pianists would dare... Read more... |
Oriole Ensemble, Conway Hall review - sublimely peculiar chamber musicTuesday, 28 January 2020
When I reviewed the Philharmonia’s Weimar season last year I expressed a hope to hear more Hindemith performed in London. When, also last year, I reviewed chamber music at Conway Hall I looked forward to my next visit. So a Conway Hall programme... Read more... |
Shostakovich 24 Preludes and Fugues, Igor Levit, Barbican review - an eagle's-eye viewMonday, 27 January 2020
"Citizen. European. Pianist," declares Russian-born, Berlin-based Igor Levit on the front page of his website. One should add, since he wouldn't, Mensch and master of giants. High-level human integrity seems a given when great pianists essay epics:... Read more... |
Cargill, BBCSO, Saraste, Barbican review - less is more in ShostakovichSaturday, 25 January 2020
Jukka-Pekka Saraste doesn’t visit London much these days. He was Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, and there were rumours that he was in line for the top job. That didn’t happen, and his career soon took him elsewhere – which... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Ginastera, Messiaen, Saint-SaënsSaturday, 25 January 2020
Ginastera: Harp Concerto, Variaciones concertantes Sidsel Walstad (harp), Norwegian Radio Orchestra/Miguel Harth-Bedoya (Lawo Classics)Alberto Ginastera divided his compositional career into three, later two, distinct periods, charting a move... Read more... |
