19th century
Napoleon, BBC TwoThursday, 11 June 2015
It is irresistible to watch Andrew Roberts, the ambitious historian of one of history's most ambitious figures, narrating a three-part account of his hero’s life and times. He is giving us a superb analysis of Napoleon Bonaparte’s gifts, flaws,... Read more... |
The Elephant Man, Theatre Royal, HaymarketMonday, 01 June 2015
Beauty transforms itself into a beast but an inner grace shines forth regardless: such is the enduring power of Bernard Pomerance's stage play The Elephant Man, first seen in London almost 40 years ago and a Broadway semi-regular ever since. The... Read more... |
Pelléas et Mélisande, Welsh National OperaSaturday, 30 May 2015
Debussy completed only one opera (though he started plenty), but it’s the most perfect work imaginable, not only in sheer musical refinement and narrative precision, but in psychological penetration and above all in that exact grasp of the... Read more... |
Tetzlaff, LSO, Harding, BarbicanMonday, 25 May 2015
With Kavakos, Faust, Shaham and Skride already been and gone, and Jansen, Ehnes, Bell and Ibragimova still to come, the LSO’s International Violin Festival has nothing left to prove. We’re not short of star power in London’s concert scene, but even... Read more... |
Poliuto, Glyndebourne Festival OperaFriday, 22 May 2015
Fashion is a funny thing, in opera no less than the sartorial trappings that go with it (everything from tight, hipster trews to billowing ballgowns at last night's Glyndebourne season opening, in case you were wondering). Donizetti's classical... Read more... |
Carmen, English National OperaThursday, 21 May 2015
Crotch-grabbing, suggestions of oral and anal sex, stylized punching and kicking and other casual violence offer diminishing returns in your standard Calixto Bieito production. Sometimes a scene or two flashes focused brilliance, which only makes... Read more... |
Edmund de Waal: I Placed a Jar, Brighton FestivalTuesday, 19 May 2015
What strange things netsuke are. Tiny sculptures, usually made from wood or ivory and depicting anything from figures, to fruit to animals, they were first made in the 17th century as toggles to attach pockets and bags to the robes worn by Japanese... Read more... |
Parsifal, CBSO, Nelsons, Symphony Hall, BirminghamTuesday, 19 May 2015
This was a very "concert" performance indeed. Across the stage music stands stood like sentinels lest any rash singer attempted to stand out and – surely not – act. Such fears were misplaced (or the stands did their job) in the end, as the music was... Read more... |
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell, BBC OneMonday, 18 May 2015
If it’s about magic, and features sanitised cobbled streets and dark gothic interiors, then Harry Potter comparisons will no doubt be inevitable.And so it has been with this seven-part adaptation of Susanna Clarke’s hefty 2004 novel, Jonathan... Read more... |
Il Trovatore, Scottish OperaMonday, 18 May 2015
"The darkness deceived me," sings Leonora in Act I as she mistakenly rushes into the arms of the Count di Luna, rather than those of her beloved, the mysterious troubador Manrico who’s been serenading her for nights on end. Seeing Robert B Dickson’s... Read more... |
1864, BBC FourSunday, 17 May 2015
They must have run out of contemporary Danes to bump off, or coalition governments to form. 1864 is something completely different from Danish national broadcaster DR, and it’s safe to presume it wouldn’t have made it onto British TV without a prior... Read more... |
Far From the Madding CrowdFriday, 01 May 2015
The arrival of Thomas Vinterberg's new treatment of Thomas Hardy's novel has triggered a retro-wallow in John Schlesinger's 1967 version, but happily, that was long enough ago to allow Vinterberg's vision to resonate in its own space. My... Read more... |
