Classical music
Classical CDs: Christmas 2021, Part 1Saturday, 11 December 2021
Michael Praetorius: Es is ein Ros Dresdner Kammerchor/Hans-Christoph Rademann (Accentus)Oliver Geisler’s witty booklet note makes the case for Michael Praetorius (1571-1621) as “one of the best unknowns in the history of music.” Reading the... Read more... |
Semenchuk, Skigin, Wigmore Hall review - compelling Tchaikovsky songsTuesday, 07 December 2021
This winter's evening spent at Wigmore Hall, completely immersed in performances of songs by Tchaikovsky, was a delight.Mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk and pianist Semyon Skigin know these songs profoundly well. They described the proposal thus: “... Read more... |
MacMillan Christmas Oratorio, LPO, Elder, RFH review – a new star for the seasonMonday, 06 December 2021
The shadow of the cross falls over James MacMillan’s manger. You may come for his work’s consoling, even transporting, beauty and mystery. It’s there in abundance in his new Christmas Oratorio. Yet what may grip hardest are his passages of crashing... Read more... |
Hanslip, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - lyricism and challengeMonday, 06 December 2021
Manchester’s oldest chamber orchestra has been gathering a new audience at the Stoller Hall in Chetham’s School of Music since that auditorium opened, and Sunday afternoon’s programme provided an excellent example of where the Northern Chamber... Read more... |
Feng, CBSO, Wilson, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - effortless expressionThursday, 02 December 2021
As the conductor of English National Opera’s 2018 production of Porgy and Bess, there can’t be many maestros in the UK who can currently match John Wilson’s knowledge of that extraordinary score. And there are surely none who can rival Wilson’s... Read more... |
Tchetuev, LPO, Larsen-Maguire, Congress Theatre, Eastbourne review - sunshine by the seaTuesday, 30 November 2021
Even with a chill wind blowing from the Sussex Downs, this copper-bottomed Overture-Concerto-Symphony Sunday matinée was guaranteed to entice concert-goers to Eastbourne’s Sunshine Coast, which duly dazzled both outside and inside the hall.Beethoven... Read more... |
Imogen Cooper, Wigmore Hall review - calm waters run deepMonday, 29 November 2021
On a night when any brooks running past the Wigmore Hall might have frozen almost solid, Imogen Cooper’s recital travelled on sparkling waters of the highest purity across almost a century of pianistic innovation.As well as the streams and fountains... Read more... |
Kim, RSNO, Stockhammer, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - bold programming survives a replacementMonday, 29 November 2021
What happens in an orchestra when your designated conductor for three gigs at the end of the week phones in with Covid on Monday morning? By Monday afternoon, when he was writing his introduction to the programme notes for this concert, Alistair... Read more... |
Scenes from the Wild, Morgan, CLS, Paterson, Southwark Cathedral review - a cornucopia of the seasonsSaturday, 27 November 2021
Dara McAnulty’s Diary of a Young Naturalist (14 at the time of writing) is a total vision, effortlessly poetic where the likes of Rober Macfarlane sometimes seem to strive for effect. Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s 26 songs, with a text drawn from the... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Weak heartbeats, bell foundries and French frothSaturday, 27 November 2021
Brahms: Symphony No. 4, MacMillan: Larghetto for Orchestra Pittsburgh Symphony, Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)Brahms 4 originally opened with four bars of soft wind chords. Thomas Hengelbrock reinstated them in his 2017 Sony recording;... Read more... |
Giltburg, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - back to glorious normal?Friday, 26 November 2021
Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé were making something of a statement in this concert. Gone was the extended platform, gone the distanced orchestral seating of the past 18 months or so (strings now back to shared music stands), and the programme (also a... Read more... |
First Person: composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad on a musical love letter to the natural worldWednesday, 24 November 2021
In the darkness my dreams are interruptedI see the blackbird in my mind and the whirring of my brain beginsScenes from the Wild begins at dawn on a spring day, at that moment between sleep and wakefulness where dreams and reality are... Read more... |
