Tchaikovsky
The Queen of Spades, English National OperaSunday, 07 June 2015
The delicacy of its supernatural elements make Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades, as adapted by Tchaikovsky, a tricky proposition for any director. Do you go with the ghost story and risk losing your audience emotionally, or do you play it straight,... Read more... |
Batiashvili, Staatskapelle Berlin, Barenboim, RFHWednesday, 22 April 2015
Gasps of surprise were heard across the country last month, when Richard Morrison on BBC Radio 3's "Building a Library" announced Daniel Barenboim and the Staatskapelle Berlin as his library choice for Elgar’s Second Symphony. That... Read more... |
Serenade/Carmina Burana, Birmingham Royal Ballet, London ColiseumFriday, 20 March 2015
Serenade seems to be one of George Balanchine’s most evanescent works, a floating, delicate skein of movement that is over almost before it begins, leaving nothing but memory behind. In reality, it is tough as old boots, a warrior of a ballet, one... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Nielsen, Prokofiev, Sculthorpe, TchaikovskySaturday, 14 February 2015
Nielsen: Symphonies 5 and 6 New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Alan Gilbert (Dacapo)Nielsen told the press that his sixth and final symphony was “in a lighter vein than my other symphonies – there are cheerful things in it.” There are cheerful... Read more... |
Alexander Ivashkin Memorial Concert, Queen Elizabeth HallFriday, 13 February 2015
A memorial concert to a busy man. Alexander Ivashkin, who died last January, was a cellist, a scholar, a teacher, an authority on Russian music, and much else besides. This evening’s concert faced up to the daunting challenge of commemorating the... Read more... |
Swan Lake, Royal BalletWednesday, 11 February 2015
Is there an art-form more tied to bad as well as good tradition than classical ballet? Yolanda Sonnabend’s unatmospherically if expensively kitsch designs for this Swan Lake wouldn’t have lasted more than a season or two in the worlds of theatre and... Read more... |
Swan Lake, English National Ballet, London ColiseumThursday, 08 January 2015
The twelve days of Christmas may be over, but I have good news for ballet fans in London: a whole new batch of presents for you has washed up at the Coliseum, and it's overflowing with lords-a-leaping, ladies dancing, and swans-a-swimming. In Derek... Read more... |
Best of 2014: Classical ConcertsTuesday, 30 December 2014
Offshoots of the Venezuelan El Sistema’s worldwide dissemination as well as other youth and music projects continued to bloom and grow in 2014. The morning after what was the orchestral concert of the year for many who caught it, Alexandra Coghlan (... Read more... |
The Nutcracker, Scottish Ballet, Edinburgh Festival TheatreSunday, 28 December 2014
Every Nutcracker has its day, and every day has its Nutcracker. But sometimes history repeats itself, and so it was that I found myself last night in Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre, scene of my own childhood encounters with ballet, preparing to watch... Read more... |
The Nutcracker, English National Ballet, London ColiseumMonday, 15 December 2014
Unusually, English National Ballet’s Nutcracker finds itself in an empty field this year. Three Decembers ago, the second time out for Wayne Eagling’s production, it had to contend with Matthew Bourne’s version and the Royal Ballet’s, not... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky, Christina SandsengenSaturday, 06 December 2014
Prokofiev: Symphonies 1 and 2, Sinfonietta Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/Kirill Karabits (Onyx)Only two of Prokofiev's seven symphonies seem to be performed with any regularity. Of the remainder, nos. 2 and 4 remain the shadiest, so it's... Read more... |
Sci-Fi Week: 2001: A Space OdysseyThursday, 27 November 2014
No Gravity or Interstellar has challenged the might and influence of 2001: A Space Odyssey: its re-release this week is one of the movie events of the year. Those who haven’t previously seen it – but who take CGI for granted – should be prepared to... Read more... |
