thu 20/02/2025

Classical Music reviews, news & interviews

Sidorova, Philharmonia, Alsop, Royal Festival Hall review - ladies of the dance

Boyd Tonkin

George Gershwin called one of his early classic songs, first created by Fred and Adele Astaire, “Fascinating Rhythm”. It was that mesmeric pull that propelled last night’s Royal Festival Hall Concert from the Philharmonia and its principal guest conductor, Marin Alsop.

MacMillan's Ordo Virtutum, BBC Singers, Jeannin, Milton Court review - dramatic journey of a medieval soul

David Nice

Does any living composer write better for choirs, or more demandingly when circumstances allow, than James MacMillan? Admirable as it is to have extant words and music for a music-drama, morality play, call it what you will, by medieval pioneer Hildegard of Bingen, her imagining of a soul torn between virtues and Satan is inevitably one-dimensional. MacMillan finds variety and surprises in response to her text at ever turn of this 80-minute epic.

Gilliver, Liverman, Rangwanasha, LSO, Pappano,...

David Nice

For all its passing British sea shanties and folksongs, Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony does Walt Whitman’s determinedly global-oriented poetry full...

Braimah Kanneh-Mason, Fernandes, Gent, 229 review...

Rachel Halliburton

It was the sonically adventurous, shiveringly atmospheric cello piece by Latvian composer Preteris Vasks that proved to be the first showstopper of...

Manchester Collective, RNCM review - something...

Robert Beale

When a piece of music is heard for the first time ever, there’s always the delicious hope that, just by being there, an audience might witness...

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Classical CDs: Elephants, bells and warm blankets

Graham Rickson

Two great conductors celebrated, plus medieval choral music and an eclectic vocal recital

Widmann, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - razor-sharp attack in adrenalin charges

David Nice

A great conductor continues his scorching survey of British symphonies with a hard-hitter

Nakariakov, SCO, Emelyanychev, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - a frenzied feast of contemporary classics

Miranda Heggie

'New Dimensions' concerts continue to flourish

Biss, BBCSO, Hrůša, Barbican review - electrifying Shostakovich at a crucial time

David Nice

The Royal Opera's next music director achieves blazing results in a rich programme

BBC Singers, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Kings Place review - on the way to heaven via King's Cross

Boyd Tonkin

Intimate settings for a musical journey towards bliss

Classical CDs: Mandolins, trumpets and hot soup

Graham Rickson

French chamber music, Viennese waltzes and a disc of viola duets

RAM Song Circle, Wigmore Hall review - excellent young musicians lift the spirits

Bernard Hughes

Royal Academy singers revel in merry monks, mourning mothers and morose musings

Gigashvili, Hallé, Cox, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - beauty and style from a winning pianist

Robert Beale

Music and ‘noise’ come together as new music meets Mozart and Tchaikovsky

Giltburg, Pavel Haas Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - into the labyrinth of a Martinů masterpiece

David Nice

Fierce Czech first half followed by more storm but also balm in Brahms

Tiffin Youth Choir, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus, Jurowski, RFH review - perfect detachment suits public statements

David Nice

Poised Haydn and John Adams in a surprising sequence

Celtic Connections: Orchestral Qawwali Project, GRIT Orchestra review - two concerts showcasing the cross-genre power of an orchestra

Miranda Heggie

Orchestral music imagined in many ways in Glasgow's global music festival

Sun Rings, Sacconi Quartet, Festival Voices, Kings Place review - lift-off for an exhilarating voyage into the unknown

Rachel Halliburton

A suitably radiant interpretation of a Terry Riley epic

Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra, Dudamel, Barbican review - an epic journey from gossamer-like intimacy to apocalyptic rage

Rachel Halliburton

An orchestra on top form in Mahler's Third Symphony despite swirling controversies

German National Orchestra, Marshall, Cadogan Hall review - sheer youthful exuberance

Sebastian Scotney

Teenagers on tour bring effusive music-making

Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall review - colour and courage, from Hardanger to Majorca

Boyd Tonkin

Bold and bracing pianism in favourite Chopin and a buried Norwegian treasure

Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - Boulez with bonbons

Robert Beale

Assurance and sympathy from Mark Wigglesworth for differing French idioms

Classical CDs: Antiphons, ale dances and elves

Graham Rickson

Big box sets, neglected symphonies and Norwegian songs

Liepe, National Youth Orchestra of Ireland, Cottis, NCH, Dublin review - a spirited shot at Shostakovich

David Nice

All energy devoted to a symphonic epic, played with total commitment

Davis, National Symphony Orchestra, Maloney, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - operetta in excelsis

David Nice

World-class soprano provides the wow factor in fascinating mostly-Viennese programme

Best of 2024: Classical music concerts

David Nice

Young and old in excelsis, and competition finales turned into winning programmes

Spence, Perez, Richardson, Wigmore Hall review - a Shakespearean journey in song

Boyd Tonkin

A festive cabaret - and a tenor masterclass

Best of 2024: Classical CDs

Graham Rickson

Our pick of the year's best classical releases

First Person: cellist Matthew Barley on composing and recording his 'Light Stories'

Matthew Barley

Conceived a year ago, a short but intense musical journey

The English Concert, Bicket, Wigmore Hall review - a Baroque banquet for Christmas

Boyd Tonkin

Charpentier's charm, as well as Bach's bounty, adorn the festive table

Footnote: a brief history of classical music in Britain

London has more world-famous symphony orchestras than any other city in the world, the Philharmonia, Royal Philharmonic, London Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestra vying with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Royal Opera House Orchestra, crack "period", chamber and contemporary orchestras. The bursting schedules of concerts at the Wigmore Hall, the Barbican Centre and South Bank Centre, and the strength of music in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Cardiff, among other cities, show a depth and internationalism reflecting the development of the British classical tradition as European, but with specific slants of its own.

brittenWhile Renaissance monarchs Henry VIII and Elizabeth I took a lively interest in musical entertainment, this did not prevent outstanding English composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd developing the use of massed choral voices to stirring effect. Arguably the vocal tradition became British music's glory, boosted by the arrival of Handel as a London resident in 1710. For the next 35 years he generated booms in opera, choral and instrumental playing, and London attracted a wealth of major European composers, Mozart, Chopin and Mahler among them.

The Victorian era saw a proliferation of classical music organisations, beginning with the Philharmonic Society, 1813, and the Royal Academy of Music, 1822, both keenly promoting Beethoven's music. The Royal Albert Hall and the Queen's Hall were key new concert halls, and Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh established major orchestras. Edward Elgar was chief of a raft of English late-Victorian composers; a boom-time which saw the Proms launched in 1895 by Sir Henry Wood, and a rapid increase in conservatoires and orchestras. The "pastoral" English classical style arose, typified by Vaughan Williams, and the new BBC took over the Proms in 1931, founding its own broadcasting orchestra and classical radio station (now Radio 3).

England at last produced a world giant in Benjamin Britten (pictured above), whose protean range spearheaded the postwar establishment of national arts institutions, resulting notably in English National Opera, the Royal Opera and the Aldeburgh Festival. The Arts Desk writers provide a uniquely rich coverage of classical concerts, with overnight reviews and indepth interviews with major performers and composers, from Britain and abroad. Writers include Igor Toronyi-Lalic, David Nice, Edward Seckerson, Alexandra Coghlan, Graham Rickson, Stephen Walsh and Ismene Brown

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