Classical music
Highgate International Chamber Music Festival opening concert review - top soloists blend to perfectionMonday, 25 November 2019
When celebrated individuals get together to play chamber music on special occasions, the result can often turn out as what the late cellist of the Borodin Quartet, Valentin Berlinsky, disparagingly called "festival quality" – meaning a clash, rather... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Catalogue d'Emojis, Tessa Lark, Melody MooreSaturday, 23 November 2019
Michael Wolters & Paul Norman: Catalogue d’Emojis Cobalt Duo (Birmingham Record Company)“This piece… that you might have paid good money for, was created in utter desperation.” Michael Wolters talks about Catalogue d’Emojis over some... Read more... |
Eyck, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - theremin takes centre stageFriday, 22 November 2019
The theremin is still a relatively rare visitor to concert halls, particularly in a solo role, but Carolina Eyck is changing that. Her instrument, invented by Lev Termen just 100 years ago, is a relatively simple piece of kit – a tone generator... Read more... |
Shaw, Attacca Quartet, Kings Place review - composer portrait shows strengths and limitationsThursday, 21 November 2019
There aren’t many musicians who could appear as composer, singer and violist on a single programme but that was Caroline Shaw’s lot last night. As part of Kings Place’s Venus Unwrapped season, the first half comprised entirely her music, played by... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Warsaw: musical perspectives on culture beyond communismWednesday, 20 November 2019
The new "eufonie" festival is dedicated to the music of Poland and its neighbouring countries. This is its second year, and the scale of the project has increased substantially from last year’s first run. The programme is primarily classical music,... Read more... |
Wang, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel, Barbican review - much more than glitz and glamourTuesday, 19 November 2019
The megastars are here at the Barbican, for an intensive three days in the case of the LA Phil and Gustavo Dudamel, throughout the season as the hall shines an "Artist Spotlight" on pianist Yuja Wang. Despite a shallow opener showcasing the... Read more... |
O/Modernt Soloists, Sonoro Ensemble, Wimbledon International Music Festival review - pure instrumental poetryMonday, 18 November 2019
If you're going to run a music festival with flair, it's not enough just to have a run of star performers who pop up for single events. The 11th Wimbledon International Music Festival can offer those – Christian Tetzlaff and Lars Vogt, for instance... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Donnacha Dennehy, Handel, StraussSaturday, 16 November 2019
Donnacha Dennehy: The Hunger Alarm Will Sound/Alan Pierson, with Katherine Manley and Iarla Ó Lionáird (Nonesuch)The Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852 resulted in the deaths of one million Irish citizens to starvation and prompted a further... Read more... |
Wegener, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review – on the revolutionary road to MahlerThursday, 14 November 2019
For better or worse, because of Visconti’s classic film the Adagietto of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony now inevitably means Venice in its gloomiest moods. So there turned out to be a grim timeliness in a performance on an evening that coincided with the... Read more... |
ECO, Zacharias, Fairfield Halls Croydon review - green-fingered HaydnWednesday, 13 November 2019
Switch off for a phrase or two and it’s easy to miss the point in a Haydn symphony that makes each one of them odd and unique. In No. 74, played last night with understated class by the English Chamber Orchestra, that point occurs in the first... Read more... |
Pavlů, Prague SO, Inkinen, Cadogan Hall review - exhilarating but uneven Mahler ThirdWednesday, 13 November 2019
The Prague Symphony Orchestra are in town, their Cadogan Hall concert the London leg of a UK tour. It’s ambitious, including Mahler’s epic Third Symphony in five different cities, each with a local chorus. The orchestra itself, Prague’s second band... Read more... |
'The Academy and I': composer and viola-player Sally Beamish on a special relationshipTuesday, 12 November 2019
I was 13. It was a Saturday, and Mum was working. On this occasion she asked if I’d like to come along and bring a book. I was wearing a dress I’d made myself – psychedelic orange and pink, with red edging. It was 1969. I don’t remember what the... Read more... |
