19th century
Gerald Finley, Antonio Pappano, BarbicanMonday, 12 December 2016
This would have been an intriguing recital at any time. But in the context of Brexit, a programme of songs in a second language, of music expressing composers’ fascination with another country, another landscape, another sound-world, had a poignancy... Read more... |
The Birth of a NationTuesday, 06 December 2016
DW Griffiths's 1915 silent epic, The Birth of a Nation, became notorious for its pejorative portrayal of black people and its heroic vision of the Ku Klux Klan. For his directorial debut, Nate Parker has appropriated Griffiths's title and whipped it... Read more... |
Flaming June, Leighton House MuseumThursday, 24 November 2016
The chances are, you’ve only ever seen Flaming June in reproduction: since 1963 it has resided in the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, an out-of-the-way location that reflects the universal disdain for Victorian art in the post-war period.... Read more... |
Akram Khan's Giselle, Sadler's WellsSaturday, 19 November 2016
Thank God for Akram Khan, English National Ballet, and Tamara Rojo. Their new Giselle, which finally arrived at Sadler's Wells this week after its Salford premiere in September, is a work of intelligence, power, beauty, and - most gratifying of all... Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall BirminghamThursday, 17 November 2016
Is there anything on a concert programme more guaranteed to make the heart lift – or to prove that a conductor has their musical priorities straight – than a Haydn symphony? If you're tired of Haydn, you're tired of life: there’s no music more... Read more... |
'What would it feel like to watch women sew?'Wednesday, 16 November 2016
It’s a strange time to be alive. Has it always felt like this? When else was there a time when so much felt to be at stake, and the ground moved beneath our feet with the continuous emergence of technologies that affect our everyday lives and our... Read more... |
Intrigue: James Ensor by Luc Tuymans, Royal AcademyTuesday, 08 November 2016
James Ensor? Who he? A marvellous Anglo-Belgian artist (1860-1949) little known outside Belgium, whose masterpiece, The Entry of Christ into Brussels in 1889, 1888, is a trophy painting at the Getty, California. It is present here in his own print... Read more... |
DVD: Stella CadenteTuesday, 08 November 2016
This tragicomic romp is loosely based on a bizarre footnote in Spanish history. The Italian Duke Amadeo was offered the throne after the previous occupant’s violent overthrow. But when the kingmaker who invited him was assassinated just before his... Read more... |
Dark Angel, ITVTuesday, 01 November 2016
Having served her time as dutiful, self-effacing Anna Bates in Downton Abbey, here's Joanne Froggatt grasping with both hands the role of Mary Ann Cotton, "Britain's first female serial killer". No more wearing herself out desperately trying to save... Read more... |
The Schumann Project, Oxford Lieder FestivalMonday, 31 October 2016
It felt oddly disrespectful showing up in time for Schumann's wake on the fifteenth and final day of this year's Oxford Lieder Festival. Having started with the early piano music and many of the chamber works before moving on to Schumann's annus... Read more... |
Gerstein, BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, Bychkov, BarbicanSaturday, 29 October 2016
What a relief to find Semyon Bychkov back on romantic terra firma after his slow-motion Mozart at the Royal Opera (performances speeded up somewhat, I'm told, after a sticky first night). On his own, dark-earth terms, there's no-one to touch him for... Read more... |
Hunt, London Firebird Orchestra, Bloxham, St Paul's Covent GardenWednesday, 12 October 2016
It's harder for young professional musicians to be judged in standard repertoire – the very greatest music, in short – than to make their mark tackling the unknown in a wacky venue. High levels of energy and technical skill married to... Read more... |
