Classical Reviews
Miklós Perényi, András Schiff, Wigmore HallWednesday, 23 April 2014
Miklós Perényi makes the listener re-think how a cello should sound. Forget the huge tone of the Russians - think Rostropovich or Natalia Gutman, or the attention-grabbing of Americans or even the flamboyance of the French. No floppy hair, no vanity or mannerisms here. Perényi plays with simplicity and accuracy, but with phenomenal craft and musicality. He dosn't force the tone, yet knows exactly how to project right to the back row of the hall. Read more...
|
Messiah at the Foundling Hospital, BBC TwoSunday, 20 April 2014
The last time the BBC dramatised the creation of a great musical work, it didn’t quite hit the spot. Eroica starred Ian Hart as Beethoven glowering at the heart of a drama which had rather less of a narrative through-line than the symphony it honoured. For Messiah at the Foundling Hospital, the BBC have gone to the other extreme and kept eggs out of the one basket. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Britten, Poulenc, Peter WhelanSaturday, 19 April 2014
|
Uchida, LPO, Jurowski, RFHThursday, 17 April 2014
Vladimir Jurowski is a master of the through-composed programme. Yet at first this looked like a more standard format: explosive contemporary work (if 1966 can still be called “contemporary”) followed by popular concerto and symphony. Read more... |
Trifonov, LSO, Gergiev, BarbicanMonday, 14 April 2014
This concert brought to a close the London Symphony Orchestra's focus on Scriabin, in a series appropriately titled "Music in colour". The Third Symphony was partnered here with Messiaen’s early work Les offrandes oubliées and Chopin’s Second Piano Concerto – both in their own way richly colouristic works. Read more... |
Rancourt, Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSaturday, 12 April 2014
Soccer-mad Shostakovich’s score for a ballet about a Soviet football team visiting Western Europe, the world premiere of an oboe concerto by John Casken marking the 1914 centenary, and a rare semi-staged performance of Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins made up this remarkable programme. Even Sir Mark Elder pronounced it “eccentric”. Read more... |
Pascal and Ami Rogé, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds Grand TheatreFriday, 11 April 2014
For record collectors of a certain age, Pascal Rogé is Mr French Piano Music; if you’re looking for decent recordings of Ravel, Poulenc, Saint-Saëns and Debussy, he’s the man. Hearing him perform live, here with his wife and duet partner Ami Rogé, is an overwhelming, entertaining experience, though you’re occasionally confounded by Rogé’s calm, unruffled exterior. Read more... |
Vogt, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Jansons, BarbicanSunday, 06 April 2014
Can there be a conductor with a clearer and more affirming beat than Mariss Jansons with the Concertgebouw Orchestra when they're at their best? The listener can just marvel at his capacity to work in partnership with this fine orchestra, to underline and reinforce everything they do, to enable them to land cleanly, decisively and unanimously, to introduce new ideas with care, precision and beauty, to treat the end of phrases with respect, love and punctiliousnes. Read more... |
It's All About Piano!, Institut FrançaisSaturday, 05 April 2014
With tickets only a couple of pounds more than screenings in the Ciné Lumière, back-to-back – sometimes overlapping - concerts by world-class pianists of all ages, and a lively roster of weekend events around the recitals, what more could you ask from the French Institute’s two-and-a-half day festival? Well, perhaps a better and bigger Steinway. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Kletzki, Schumann, Szymanowski, Ji LiuSaturday, 05 April 2014
Read more... |
Britten to America – music for radio and theatre Hallé/Sir Mark Elder, Ex Cathedra/Jeffrey Skidmore Samuel West (narrator) (NMC)Pages
inside classical music
latest in today
'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages...
