Classical Reviews
Classical CDs Weekly: Roxanna Panufnik, Penderecki, eXSaturday, 01 February 2014
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Jansen, LSO, Pappano, BarbicanFriday, 31 January 2014
There were, it seemed, enough trumpets to serve Gabriel throughout eternity - and, as fanfares go, this one was stretching a point and then some. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Delius, Hindemith, Holst, Claudia CoronaSaturday, 25 January 2014
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Williams, BBCPO, Hallé, Mena, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSaturday, 25 January 2014
There are occasions when just one band isn’t enough. Hence the rare experience of the Hallé and the BBC Philharmonic joining forces for a performance, in the Strauss’s Voice series celebrating the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth, of An Alpine Symphony under Juanjo Mena. Read more... |
Issipile, La Nuova Musica, Bates, Wigmore HallThursday, 23 January 2014
A question flitted through my mind in advance. Was I down to review La Nuova Musica’s modern premiere of Conti’s baroque opera Issipile, or was it Issipile’s opera Conti? To many music lovers, even those well grounded in history, both possibilities must be equally plausible. Read more... |
Katia & Marielle Labèque, BBCSO, Bychkov, Barbican HallFriday, 17 January 2014
The first half of this concert was quite the family affair: Martinů’s Concerto for Two Pianos featuring the eternally youthful Katia and Marielle Labèque, with the latter’s husband Semyon Bychkov conducting. Read more... |
Power, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 16 January 2014
Baleful prophecies were rife before the concert. Was Vladimir Jurowski right to let Mahler’s only total tragedy among his symphonies, the Sixth, share the programme with anything else, least of all a new viola concerto in which the solo instrument’s naturally pale cast of thought seemed likely to be indulged by James MacMillan – another composer not afraid of rhetorical angst? Read more... |
Winterreise, Finley, Drake, Wigmore HallThursday, 16 January 2014
Of Schubert’s two great cycles, the youthful ardour of Die schöne Müllerin sits best with a tenor while the bleak wretchedness of Winterreise lends itself to the baritone voice. Read more... |
Jephtha, The Sixteen, Christophers, BarbicanWednesday, 15 January 2014
You really think they’d have learned by now. Any operatic vow to sacrifice the next living creature you see in return for salvation will reliably end up with the luckless suppliant faced with their lover/son/spouse. For those who haven’t already learned this handy lesson from Mozart’s Idomeneo, there’s Handel’s Jephtha. Its skeletal (and frankly rather daft) plot matters little, however. Read more... |
Kožená, Les Violons du Roy, Barbican HallSunday, 12 January 2014
Last night’s Mozart and Haydn concert at the Barbican was billed as Magdalena Kožená with Les Violons du Roy. In practice it actually turned out to be Les Violons du Roy with Magdalena Kožená, which (barring a few die-hard fans of the Czech mezzo) was surely preferable for all concerned. Read more... |
Holst: The Hymn of Jesus, Delius: Sea Drift, Cynara Roderick Williams (baritone), Hallé Choir, Hallé Youth Choir, Hallé Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder (Hallé)Pages
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