Berlioz
Classical CDs Weekly: Bach, Berlioz, Michala PetriSaturday, 18 February 2012
Bach: Trauer-Music: Music to Mourn Prince Leopold Taverner Consort and Players/Parrott (Avie)Prince Leopold was Bach’s patron in the small town of Cöthen, where the young composer arrived to take up the post of Capellmeister in 1717. Leopold... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Berlioz, Daugherty, PurcellSaturday, 12 November 2011
Berlioz: Grande Messe des Morts Paul McCreesh/Ensemble Wrocław (Signum)After last week’s Mahler 8, another gargantuan choral work makes a welcome appearance on disc. Berlioz’s Grande messe des morts was first performed in the church of Les... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Der Freischütz, Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique, GardinerSaturday, 10 September 2011
What kind of work could possibly elbow aside the time-honoured ritual of performing Beethoven's Ninth on the penultimate (ie, the last serious) night of the Proms? The kind that even Beethoven was gobsmacked by. That's the sort of reputation that... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Arditti Quartet, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, FischerThursday, 28 July 2011
One of the weirdest things about the Proms's "weird concerto" theme is that the concertos so far haven't been all that weird. Piano. Violin. Cello and violin. Cello, piano and violin. Pretty familiar stuff. Finally last night we got something bona... Read more... |
The Damnation of Faust, English National OperaFriday, 06 May 2011
Anything goes in the wacky world of Berlioz’s Faust story. It’s a heaven and hell of a lot better than Gounod’s, but it isn’t an opera, it isn’t an oratorio and it certainly isn’t the gospel according to Goethe. So Terry Gilliam, ENO’s latest wild-... Read more... |
London Schools Symphony Orchestra, Segerstam, Barbican HallThursday, 28 April 2011
With regional youth orchestras dropping from a thousand short-sighted, wholesale cuts - flagship Leicestershire the latest under threat - it should be enough just to celebrate 60 seasons of the LSSO, safe for now under the City of London's... Read more... |
Antonacci, LPO, Nézet-Séguin, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 16 February 2011
It's hard to believe that Yannick Nézet-Séguin could ever turn in a less-than-electrifying concert. According to theartsdesk, he did just that a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't there so I can't comment (though I can credit a rough edge or two). What I... Read more... |
theartsdesk Guide to Valentine's DayMonday, 14 February 2011
Whether it’s consolation, stimulation, or just some old-fashioned romance you’re after this Valentine’s Day, theartsdesk’s team of writers (with a little help from a certain Bard from Stratford) have got it covered. Exhibitions to stir the heart,... Read more... |
A Nice Library Builder on Radio 3Friday, 04 February 2011
David Nice, one of our Arts Deskers, is in the exalted seat of Radio 3’s Building a Library tomorrow morning filtering recordings of Berlioz’s “dramatic symphony” Roméo et Juliette."As recommended on Radio 3's Building a Library" has come to be seen... Read more... |
Opinion: If the classical concert scene ain't broke, don't fix itMonday, 24 January 2011
Most of us don't object to experiments in concert presentation - the occasional one-off showcase to lure the young and suspicious into the arcane world of attentive concert-going, the odd multimedia event as icing on the cake. It's only those... Read more... |
RSNO, Denève; Ensemble Matheus, Spinosi, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 07 September 2010
Is that asking a lot? Probably not, considering what's already been achieved at this year's BBC Proms. Looking back on it, last night felt implausibly rich yet gloriously digestible, too, at least in retrospect. I couldn't have predicted that I... Read more... |
Stemme, Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Dausgaard, Royal Albert HallTuesday, 24 August 2010
“The curse of Schumann,” remarked Prom director Roger Wright to me before Monday’s concert, bemoaning the fact that only (only!) 2,000 seats had been sold for the Swedish Chamber Orchestra’s concert under Thomas Dausgaard - whereas Dausgaard's... Read more... |
