Classical music
theartsdesk at the Three Choirs Festival - the beautiful and the damnedTuesday, 30 July 2019
Our greatest Berlioz scholar, David Cairns, has called Le Damnation de Faust “an opera of the mind’s eye, not of the stage,” and I’ve certainly never seen a production that successfully staged its curious, episodic, actionless mixture of set piece,... Read more... |
Prom 13: Des canyons aux étoiles..., BBCSO, Oramo review – cursory contemplations of earth and skyMonday, 29 July 2019
Messiaen’s language of juxtaposition over development was always susceptible to the “greatest hits” phenomenon that began to suffuse his music with contented wonder during the 1970s. While younger colleagues were throwing toys out of the pram and... Read more... |
Prom 12: Benedetti, National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, Wigglesworth - adrenalin highs and string sound to die forSunday, 28 July 2019
In the Netherlands, Mark Wigglesworth is already a musical legend for his work with Dutch youth orchestras. Hopefully, in addition to the year and a bit when he wrought miracles at English National Opera, he will become so in the UK after his... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Sibelius, Thomas WilsonSaturday, 27 July 2019
Brahms: The Piano Quartets The Primrose Piano Quartet (Meridian)Schoenberg complained that performances of Brahms’s G minor Piano Quartet never pleased him (“the better the pianist, the louder he plays and you hear nothing from the strings”).... Read more... |
Prom 8, Faust, BBCSO, Eötvös review - terrific orchestral showcaseThursday, 25 July 2019
By happenstance, this Prom was fully topical, with Debussy’s languorous Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune fitting for one of the hottest days in London’s history, and the “Infernal Dance” from Stravinsky’s Firebird mirroring the infernal political... Read more... |
Prom 3, CBeebies: A Musical Trip to the Moon review - a celebration of the Apollo 11 landingMonday, 22 July 2019
This year’s Proms for children were entitled “Off to the Moon”, and audiences were invited on a musical space voyage to mark the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. The format was a mix of orchestral music, kids’ programmes on big screens and CBeebies... Read more... |
Prom 2, Bell, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Hrůša review – Bohemian rhapsody, and refinementSunday, 21 July 2019
Eighty years ago this summer, Neville Chamberlain’s indifference to the peoples of Czechoslovakia – “a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing” – reaped its harvest of total war. These days, we have no excuses for not... Read more... |
Prom 1, BBCSO, Canellakis review - space-age First NightSaturday, 20 July 2019
A new commission, a Romantic tone poem and a choral spectacular – standard fare for the First Night of the Proms. Traditionally, the First Night sets out the themes for the season ahead, but the rationale behind much of this programme was paper-thin... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Stewart Goodyear, Nielsen, WeinbergSaturday, 20 July 2019
Stewart Goodyear: Callaloo, Piano Sonata; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue Stewart Goodyear (piano), Chineke! Orchestra/Wayne Marshall (Orchid Classics)Callaloo is Stewart Goodyear’s indecently entertaining suite for piano and orchestra, the title... Read more... |
Pick of the BBC Proms 2019Thursday, 18 July 2019
It's been much the same trajectory over the past few years for many of us: look through the Proms prospectus, feel a bit disappointed that there isn't more of the rich and rare, be won round when it comes to the performances. After all, you're... Read more... |
Londinium, Griffiths, St John’s Waterloo review - a choral Grand TourSaturday, 13 July 2019
Since 2005 Londinium has carved out a niche in the London choral scene as a purveyor of creative programming, exploring often neglected musical byways or making surprising connections and juxtapositions. Last night the idea was a musical... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Jupiter String Quartet, Bruce Levingston, Paul McCreeshSaturday, 13 July 2019
An English Coronation Gabrieli Consort & Players/Paul McCreesh, with Gabrieli Roar and Simon Russell Beale (Signum)The snatch of ambient noise before this set’s first item, coupled with the Gabrieli Players’ performance, could convince the... Read more... |
