Reviews
The Wreckers, Glyndebourne review - no masterpiece, but vividly sung and played
Sunday, 22 May 2022
Interesting for the history of music, but not for music? Passing acquaintance with Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, a grand opera by a woman at a time (the early 1900s) when circumstances made such a thing near-impossible, had suggested so.
- Comment
Music Reissues Weekly: Patty Waters - You Loved Me
Sunday, 22 May 2022
“Touched by Rodin in a Paris Museum” is a 14-minute consideration of exactly what its title says: the impact of encountering Auguste Rodin’s work in person. The composition features piano only. There are nods to Debussy and Ravel. The playing is measured and minimal yet still full-bodied. At odd points, there are seconds of complete silence.
The Deathless Woman review - the overlooked...
Saturday, 21 May 2022
One of the more heartwarming images in the news recently has been seeing Ukrainian refugees being welcomed by their eastern European neighbours. But...
My Fair Lady, London Coliseum review - tasteful...
Saturday, 21 May 2022
First staged in 2018, Bartlett Sher’s Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady is London’s latest import from Broadway, coming...
Benediction review - the world's worst wounds
Saturday, 21 May 2022
Terence Davies’s Benediction is a haunting but uneven biopic of the World War I poet Siegfried Sassoon and a drama about the burden of incalculable...
MØ, Heaven, London review - snappy, sexy and energised
Danish pop star plays a tight set to a devoted partisan crowd |
Top Gun: Maverick review - Tom Cruise defies age and gravity
Make sure you see it at an IMAX |
The Father and the Assassin, National Theatre review - Gandhi's killer puts his case in a bold, whirlwind production
Anupama Chandrasekhar argues, with humour and invention, against political extremism |
I Get Knocked Down, Brighton Festival review - Chumbawamba singer's film is lively, funny and thought-provoking
Nineties anarcho-pop star ruminates entertainingly on what it all meant |
Berrut, ECO, Guzzo, Cadogan Hall review - Schubert with a smile
Sparkling symphony makes up for a slightly lacklustre concerto |
The Innocents review - they're just playing
A Norwegian tale of kids doing what kids do, sinisterly |
The House of Shades, Almeida Theatre review - Anne-Marie Duff blazes in Beth Steel's excoriating new drama
Inter-generational story from a Northern mining town melds naturalism and tragedy |
Grease, Dominion Theatre review - a super night out, great songs well sung and spectacular dancing
Crowdpleaser pleases crowd: this High School musical delivers what its audience wants |
Tallies, Old Blue Last review - Canadian quintet rejuvenates indie prototypes
Toronto outfit transcends its influences |
The Essex Serpent, Apple TV+ review - tradition and superstition versus the march of progress
The battle of ideas comes to the East Coast in exquisitely shot treatment of Sarah Perry's novel |
Charli XCX, O2 Academy, Glasgow review - sweat-drenched pop amid feverish atmosphere
The singer's commanding presence overcame a slick production |
Vortex review – an old couple's road to nowhere
Gaspar Noé's unflinching depiction of dementia's merciless grip |
The Great Escape 2022, Brighton review - sunshine, queues, and thrilling new bands
theartsdesk's intrepid duo spend a day trawling the multi-venue seaside festival for musical kicks |
The Breach, Hampstead Theatre review - profoundly uncomfortable work that burns like ice
Naomi Wallace's writing is brave and uncompromising |
Ozark, Series 4 Part 2, Netflix review - crumbling consciences and a last stand
No spoilers, hopefully: farewell to this superbly-acted corruption saga |
Vondráček, LSO, Tilson Thomas, Barbican review - mixed messages
Fine detail in Liszt and Mahler, but drama was lacking |
Andy Zaltzman, Soho Theatre review - satire on the hoof
Setting the world to rights, one joke at a time |
Dandy, BBC Philharmonic, New, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - energy and fierce attention
Gustav and Alma Mahler, and pictorial music, are linked in a fascinating programme |
Music Reissues Weekly: 999 - A Punk Rock Anthology
Entry point compilation into the band who ‘seem to have lost control’ |
Julius Caesar, Shakespeare's Globe review - the Bard buried in bad choices
Intrusive 21st century agenda and dismal staging waste an opportunity |
Transgressive Records showcase, The Great Escape, Brighton review - five acts offer intriguing pop alternatives
Let's Eat Grandma, The Waeve, Mykki Blanco and more set the south coast a-buzz |
The Patient Gloria, Brighton Festival review - an electric exploration of the control and manipulation of women
Laying bare the authority and entitlement of misogyny |
The Staircase, NOW review - addictive dramatisation of real-life murder investigation
Colin Firth visits the dark side as suspected killer Michael Peterson |
Fidelio, Insula Orchestra, Barbican review - truth and justice brought to light
Sturdy singing and human drama enrich a fuss-free staging of Beethoven's only opera |
latest in today
The Wreckers, Glyndebourne review - no masterpiece, but vivi...
Interesting for the history of music, but not for music? Passing acquaintance with Ethel Smyth’s The Wreckers, a grand opera by a woman...
Music Reissues Weekly: Patty Waters - You Loved Me
“Touched by Rodin in a Paris Museum” is a 14-minute consideration of exactly what its title says: the impact of encountering Auguste Rodin’s work...
DVD/Blu-ray: Parallel Mothers
Parallel Mothers unfolds at a daringly slow pace, and there are moments in the first half of...
The Deathless Woman review - the overlooked persecution of t...
One of the more heartwarming images in the news recently has been seeing Ukrainian refugees being welcomed by their eastern European neighbours....
My Fair Lady, London Coliseum review - tasteful revival powe...
First staged in 2018, Bartlett Sher’s Lincoln Center Theater production of My Fair Lady is London’s latest import from...
Benediction review - the world's worst wounds
Terence Davies’s Benediction is a haunting but uneven biopic of the...
Album: Harry Styles - Harry's House
Harry Styles’ previous two albums sounded like someone rifling pleasantly through the history of...
MØ, Heaven, London review - snappy, sexy and energised
“I live to survive another heartache/I live to survive another mistake,” roars a sold-out Heaven. It’s a new song but everyone seems to know it....
'How that music was created remains to me a complete my...
It has been a difficult couple of years for us in the world of opera, losing several of our most respected and admired colleagues who have...
Top Gun: Maverick review - Tom Cruise defies age and gravity
Only 36 years later, Tom Cruise is back with his eagerly-awaited Top Gun sequel (it was delayed a couple of years by Covid), and there...