Shostakovich
Argerich, St Petersburg PO, Temirkanov, RFHTuesday, 31 January 2017
Yuri Temirkanov chose a shamelessly populist programme for the London leg of the St Petersburg Philharmonic tour. But Khachaturian, Prokofiev and Shostakovich are core repertoire for this orchestra, and ideal for showing off its many strengths. In... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Kabeláč, Ligeti, ShostakovichSaturday, 28 January 2017
Miloslav Kabeláč: Complete Symphonies Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra/Marko Ivanović (Supraphon)Finding an imposing cycle of eight symphonies by a 20th century composer you’ve never heard of is an event. There’s precious little of Miloslav Kabeláč’s... Read more... |
Bavouzet, BBCPO, Collon, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterMonday, 16 January 2017
Colin Matthews’s arrangements for orchestra of the 24 Debussy Préludes (originally commissioned by the Hallé) have been widely admired. The BBC Philharmonic’s concert, conducted by Nicholas Collon, at the Bridgewater Hall on Friday night began with... Read more... |
Young, Gifted and Classical: The Making of a Maestro, BBC FourMonday, 21 November 2016
This is a documentary about a minority in a minority, a riff on young, gifted and black. And how better to attract both practitioners and audiences to classical music than by encouraging diversity? The totally startling statistic was that in the UK... Read more... |
Borodin Quartet, Wigmore HallSaturday, 05 November 2016
The Borodin Quartet has been playing for over 70 years, and in the early days collaborated closely with Dmitri Shostakovich. None of the players from then are in the line-up now, of course, but the group has worked hard to maintain its distinctive... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Glazunov, Shostakovich, Wagner, Dragon VoicesSaturday, 05 November 2016
Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No.1, Glazunov: Violin Concerto Nicola Benedetti (violin), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Karabits (Decca)So many decent recordings of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No.1 have appeared in recent years, and... Read more... |
The Nose, Royal OperaFriday, 21 October 2016
Even that most unpredictable of fantasists Nikolay Gogol might have been surprised to find his Nose, wandering far from the face of Collegiate Assessor Kovalyov, sung by a high tenor in an unlikely operatic adaptation of his wackiest story. Give the... Read more... |
Krylov, LPO, Søndergård, RFHMonday, 10 October 2016
With a trio of easy-on-the-ear 20th-century works, Thomas Søndergård marked his debut with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. A pleasingly full crowd took the opportunity to hear the work of a conductor rarely glimpsed in these parts outside the BBC... Read more... |
Prom 53: Stadler, RLPO, PetrenkoFriday, 26 August 2016
He still looks every inch the golden boy, but Vasily Petrenko has just turned 40, and next month celebrates a decade with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic. Time well spent, as this impressive evening revealed: after years of Russian immersion under... Read more... |
The Taming of the Shrew, Bolshoi Ballet, Royal Opera HouseThursday, 04 August 2016
What do women want? Ballet plots are not the best guide, since the main desiderata – a well-paying job, coffee dates with girlfriends, not to die young of a broken heart – are rarely the lot of ballet heroines. Comedies at least tend to have the not... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Istanbul Music Festival: classics alla TurcaSunday, 12 June 2016
Flashback to 1981, when the Bolshoy Ballet danced Swan Lake Act Two to a tinny Melodiya recording in Istanbul's Open-Air Theatre (seats were cheap for Interrailing students). Turkey was friends with the Soviet Union then. It hadn't been in the 1950s... Read more... |
Matthias Goerne, Daniil Trifonov, Wigmore HallThursday, 09 June 2016
If you needed further proof of the intelligence, the thoughtfulness of Daniil Trifonov’s musicianship, the programme for his four-concert residency at the Wigmore Hall would go a long way towards providing it. How many young soloists of Trifonov’s... Read more... |
