Mahler
Classical CDs Weekly: Wim Henderickx, Mahler, Roger WoodwardSaturday, 07 March 2015
Wim Henderickx: Disappearing in Light HERMESensemble/Wim Henderickx (HERMESensemble) Flemish composer Wim Henderickx's music is a bewildering mixture of influences – of Stravinsky, Bartók, Messiaen, Xenakis and Ligeti. All of which are... Read more... |
Hardenberger, Philharmonia, Nelsons, RFHMonday, 23 February 2015
Even by trumpeters’ standards, Håkan Hardenberger is a flamboyant figure. He sports a sharp, tailored suit and a wing-collared shirt, and his stage presence is all swagger and pomp. HK Gruber has captured his spirit perfectly in his jazzy,... Read more... |
Kožena, Royal, Berliner Philharmoniker, Rattle, RFHMonday, 16 February 2015
It’s all over: the final note of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s London Residency, for which many music-lovers bought tickets about a year ago, has risen into the ether, leaving most questions concerning Sir Simon Rattle’s future plans as yet... Read more... |
Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela Concert 2, RFHSaturday, 10 January 2015
The Simón Bolívar orchestra is the musical answer to the question “Would you like to supersize that?” A youth orchestra in bulk, if no longer in name, the ensemble has made a signature of its heft, making repertoire work on its own terms rather than... Read more... |
Karajan's Magic and Myth, BBC FourSaturday, 06 December 2014
There have been legendary conductors, and then there was Herbert von Karajan. He was a colossus of post-World War Two classical music, equipped with fearsome technical mastery allied to a vaguely supernatural gift for extracting exquisite sounds... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Conductor Jonathan NottMonday, 20 October 2014
When I entered the light and spacious chief conductor’s room in Bamberg’s Konzerthalle, Jonathan Nott was poised with a coloured pencil over one of the toughest of 20th century scores, Varèse’s Arcana. He thought he might have bitten off rather a... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Poulenc, Orbert DavisSaturday, 18 October 2014
Mahler: Symphony no 9 Danish National Symphony Orchestra/Michael Schønwandt (Challenge Classics)The halting, juddering opening of Mahler 9 is nicely characterised in this live reading. Low harp notes ring out like bells, the stuttering rhythm... Read more... |
Cargill, Yoshino, SCO, Ticciati, Usher Hall, EdinburghFriday, 10 October 2014
“Mahler, with a chamber orchestra?” In his introduction to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra’s winter season brochure, principal conductor Robin Ticciati anticipates the reaction of an audience brought up to believe that a chamber orchestra leaves its... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Grieg, Mahler, Choir of Gonville & Caius CollegeSaturday, 06 September 2014
Grieg: Holberg Variations 1B1/Jan Bjøranger, Christian Ihle Hadland (piano), Erlend Skomsvoll (piano) (Simax)This release has a nifty title, and contains three different performances of Grieg's ubiquitous Holberg Suite, each one marvellous in... Read more... |
theartsdesk in Verbier: Festival with FireworksSunday, 17 August 2014
Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is dominated by the doleful clang of cowbells. They are an other-worldly intrusion into an otherwise familiar musical scene – unless you happen to be in Verbier, that is, in which case they are just another everyday part of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Grundman, Messiaen, Aki KurodaSaturday, 09 August 2014
Jorge Grundman: A Mortuis Resurgere Susana Cordón (soprano), Brodsky Quartet (Chandos)Spanish composer Jorge Grundman was a vocalist and keyboard player in two bands in his teens, and he’s now a professor of audio engineering at a Madrid... Read more... |
Prom 24: BBCSSO, Runnicles/Solemn Vigil of Commemoration, Westminster AbbeyTuesday, 05 August 2014
Despairing in the depths of the Second World War, Richard Strauss turned to Mozart’s string quintets as well as the complete works of Goethe for evidence that German culture still existed. Vaughan Williams might well have done the same for his... Read more... |
