sat 26/04/2025

Classical Music reviews, news & interviews

Philharmonia, Alsop, RFH / Levit, Abramović, QEH review - misalliance and magical marathon

David Nice

“Let the music guide your imagination” was never going to be the slogan of the Southbank Centre’s Multitudes festival. Its 13 events offer parallel visions, intended in the case of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé (a shared project between the LPO and Australian dance company Circa I regret missing), not so in Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony: as that masterpiece begins to be freed of its Soviet-era load, William Kentridge shackles it again on his own brilliant terms.

Bach St John Passion, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - conscience against conformism

Boyd Tonkin

In a programme note for the St John Passion at the Barbican, the Academy of Ancient Music’s chief executive called their Easter performances of Bach’s compressed gospel tragedy a “ritual”. You understand why that word claims its place. However, there’s not much consciously liturgical about the AAM’s musical approach.

MacMillan St John Passion, Boylan, National...

David Nice

Never make your mind up too soon about any large-scale work by a genius. Back in 2010, I had my doubts about James MacMillan’s first Passion, hearing...

First Person: St John's College choral...

Christopher Gray

When I arrived at St John’s College, Cambridge, in April 2023, it was a daunting prospect to be taking over the reins of a choir with such a...

Classical CDs: Romance, reforestation and a...

Graham Rickson

 Thomas Adès: Orchestral Suites London Philharmonic Orchestra/Thomas Adès (LPO)Here are three orchestral suites taken from stage works by Thomas...

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Donohoe, RPO, Brabbins, Cadogan Hall review - rarely heard British piano concerto

Bernard Hughes

Welcome chance to hear a Bliss rarity alongside better-known British classics

London Choral Sinfonia, Waldron, Smith Square Hall review - contemporary choral classics alongside an ambitious premiere

Bernard Hughes

An impassioned response to the climate crisis was slightly hamstrung by its text

Goldberg Variations, Ólafsson, Wigmore Hall review - Bach in the shadow of Beethoven

Boyd Tonkin

Late changes, and new dramas, from the Icelandic superstar

Mahler's Ninth, BBC Philharmonic, Gamzou, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - vision and intensity

Robert Beale

A composer-conductor interprets the last completed symphony in breathtaking style

St Matthew Passion, Dunedin Consort, Butt, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - life, meaning and depth

Simon Thompson

Annual Scottish airing is crowned by grounded conducting and Ashley Riches’ Christ

St Matthew Passion, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin review - the heights rescaled

David Nice

Helen Charlston and Nicholas Mulroy join the lineup in the best Bach anywhere

Kraggerud, Irish Chamber Orchestra, RIAM Dublin review - stomping, dancing, magical Vivaldi plus

David Nice

Norwegian violinist and composer gives a perfect programme with vivacious accomplices

Small, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - return to Shostakovich’s ambiguous triumphalism

Robert Beale

Illumination from a conductor with his own signature

LSO, Noseda, Barbican review - Half Six shake-up

David Nice

Principal guest conductor is adrenalin-charged in presentation of a Prokofiev monster

Frang, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - every beauty revealed

David Nice

Schumann rarity equals Beethoven and Schubert in perfectly executed programme

Levit, Sternath, Wigmore Hall review - pushing the boundaries in Prokofiev and Shostakovich

David Nice

Master pianist shines the spotlight on star protégé in another unique programme

Classical CDs: Big bands, beasts and birdcalls

Graham Rickson

Italian songs, Viennese chamber music and an enterprising guitar quartet

Connolly, BBC Philharmonic, Paterson, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a journey through French splendours

Robert Beale

Magic in lesser-known works of Duruflé and Chausson

Biss, National Symphony Orchestra, Kuokman, NCH Dublin review - full house goes wild for vivid epics

David Nice

Passionate and precise playing of Brahms and Berlioz under a dancing master

Verdi Requiem, Philharmonia, Muti, RFH review - new sparks from an old flame

Boyd Tonkin

Discoveries on a veteran maestro's epic journey

Batsashvili, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a star in the piano universe

Robert Beale

The Georgian pianist brings precision and freedom to Liszt’s warhorses

Naumov, SCO, Egarr, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - orchestral magic rescues some punishing music

Simon Thompson

Hard-driven Beethoven, monotonous Eötvös, some light from Kernis

Classical CDs: Shipping lines, sabre dances and sea lice

Graham Rickson

Neglected piano concertos, Italian art songs and new music for trombones

Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Whelan, St George’s Hanover Square review - Handel’s journey of a soul

David Nice

Pleasure gets the best deal despite Beauty’s struggle to higher things

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Marsalis, LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - sounds above substance

David Nice

Phenomenal playing and conducting just about hold focus through an overlong symphony

Uproar, Rafferty, Royal Welsh College, Cardiff review - colourful new inventions inspired by Ligeti

Stephen Walsh

Unfussy professionalism from Wales-based new music ensemble

Attacca Quartet, Kings Place review - bridging the centuries in sound

Alexandra Coghlan

Grammy-winning quartet bring more American punch than Gallic je-ne-sais-quoi to Ravel

Manchester Collective, RNCM review - exploring new territory

Robert Beale

The string quartet – plus percussion and electronics – goes on a journey

Bavouzet, BBCSO, Stasevska, Barbican review - ardent souls in mythic magic

David Nice

Vivid realisation of fantastical masterpieces by Bartók, Ravel and Janáček

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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