Reviews
Sarah Kent
“It is so disgraceful, what happened there,” says Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, in a comment that is the understatement of the century. She is referring to the genocide perpetrated by the Nazis in concentration camps like Auschwitz-Birkenau, where she was held prisoner.Six million Jews were murdered in the camps, but Lasker-Wallfisch survived because she was a musician. She describes the “welcoming” ceremony in which arrivals were “stripped of every vestige of human dignity”. Stark naked, they had their heads shaved and a number tattooed on their arms.But the woman conducting this identity- Read more ...
Giulio Cesare, The English Concert, Bicket, Barbican review - 10s across the board in perfect Handel
David Nice
Is Giulio Cesare in Egitto, to give the full title, Handel’s best and shapeliest opera? Glyndebourne’s revival of the legendary David McVicar production last year made it seem so, not least thanks to the presence of two of last night’s soloists, Louise Alder as Cleopatra and Beth Taylor as Cornelia. Highlight of 2022 was the English Concert’s more sparely presented Serse. This concert Cesare from that stable lived up to both standards.Star billing in the Barbican’s publicity was national treasure Alder (pictured below with Meili Li), and not unreasonably so: Cleopatra’s pearl necklace of Read more ...
Robert Beale
Huw Watkins’ Concerto for Orchestra, the fourth new work of his to be commissioned and premiered by the Hallé and Sir Mark Elder, is another beautifully crafted and highly appealing construction.It’s also intriguing in its game-playing with genre, in almost a mirror image of the way his First Symphony was back in 2017. That, a two-movement piece, was undoubtedly symphonic by the time it reached its somewhat surprising ending, but managed to give the impression of being a concerto for orchestra at many points along the way.This, in three movements and running for around 35 minutes in total, is Read more ...
Kieron Tyler
“Soul Scene,” by Echoes Limited, is built from elements of the James Brown sound. But it’s put together in such a way that the result is unfamiliar. The angular drum groove edges towards a 5/8 shuffle. The circularity of the guitar suggests Congolese rumba. Funk, but outside recognised templates.Then there’s “Anoshereketa” by Oliver & The Black Spirits. The swirling township structure is recognisable but the drums and the nature of the guitar playing – clipped and spindly, respectively – give an edge. This music is hard to place aesthetically and geographically.Add in the loping, reggae- Read more ...
Jonathan Geddes
It is a family affair at Supergrass shows these days. There were plenty of parents and offspring filing onto the Barrowland’s famous old dancefloor, and during the encore a pair of excitable, bouncing teenagers turned around and started bellowing for their dad, off on the sidelines, to join in pogoing. He declined, but was singing along with vigour nonetheless.That’s testament to Supergrass’s strength in writing catchy songs and having material that can resonate across generations. The sheer youthful exuberance of debut album I Should Coco, here being revisited in full, still comes across as Read more ...
peter.quinn
London's iconic Roundhouse, packed to the rafters, provided the perfect setting for the UK premiere of Louis Cole's groundbreaking album nothing – his fifth album and third on Brainfeeder. This one-night-only performance, featuring Cole on drums and keys with an orchestra conducted by Jules Buckley, delivered electrifying musicianship, fascinating stylistic mash-ups, and melodies that imprinted themselves on your consciousness.Released last August to critical adulation, nothing presented something far more ambitious than an orchestral rehash of greatest hits. The LA-based composer, multi- Read more ...
Matt Wolf
You don't have to be greeting the modern day with a smile unsupported by events in the wider world to have a field day at Here We Are. The last musical from the venerated Stephen Sondheim has only grown in import and meaning since I caught its New York premiere some 18 months ago.Blessed with two alums from that production, the indispensible duo of Denis O'Hare and Tracie Bennett, this musical adaptation of two surrealists works from Luis Buñuel manages, miraculously, to remain light on its feet even as the landscape lowers around it. Musical theatre newbies may want more distinct numbers, Read more ...
Saskia Baron
There used to be an unwritten rule among BBC commissioners about how long an interval had to pass before greenlighting a new documentary on a familiar subject – Shakespeare, Ancient Egypt, Andy Warhol – they all came round again with a decent interlude between reassessments. But if the pitch involved Nazis, all bets were off. And maybe in Germany itself, that’s been the case with film-maker Leni Riefenstahl who may have had more documentaries made about her than she made herself during her years as Hitler’s favourite director.The latest, Riefenstahl comes with the promise of new revelations Read more ...
Helen Hawkins
When Mark Rosenblatt was preparing his debut play, the miseries of the assault on Gaza were still over the horizon. Now they are here, another terrible moment in human history that resonates all through Giant. Since the play opened at the Royal Court last year, that ugly hum has grown even louder. Now transferred to the West End, it could have been written to give dramatic form to this most incendiary of talking points.“Incendiary” is a word that we see author Roald Dahl gleefully welcoming as a compliment when applied to his writing. Indeed, what he seems to achieve in the course of the Read more ...
Markie Robson-Scott
“Don’t live here, don’t surf here,” is the menacing motto (sounds more scary with an Australian accent) of the tanned, muscular denizens of Luna Bay beach. But the unnamed hero known as The Surfer, played by Nicolas Cage, isn’t listening.The Surfer is directed by Lorcan Finnegan (Vivarium, 2019; Nocebo, 2022) and written by Thomas Martin (both are Irish). They were inspired, says Finnegan, by John Cheever’s The Swimmer as well as Australian New Wave movies of the 70s. This film is, however, not big on subtlety and has a limited scope. It’s shot in Yallingup, Western Australia on a beach and a Read more ...
David Nice
Watching the stricken faces on the split screen, I felt at times like callow Farfrae in Hardy’s The Mayor of Casterbridge: when faced with Henchard’s account of his blackest misery, the young man replies “Ah, now, I never feel like it”. Well, hardly ever. It’s impossible not to be held captive by the eyes and words of the six actors sharing the roles of estranged father, mother and son in Nobel Prize winning Norwegian writer Jon Fosse’s Einkvan (Everyman).Fosse is a bit like Beckett without the laughs, which is still something; all credit to the Norwegian Embassy and the AKO Foundation Read more ...
Sebastian Scotney
Carl Craig (b.1969) is a leading Detroit electronic music producer and DJ whose Planet E Communications label has existed for over three decades. This 90-minute documentary, which was directed by Jean-Cosme Delaloye and features over thirty interviews, tells Craig's life story and attempts to define his importance. It's accompanied by a soundtrack largely comprising music recorded by him, either under his own name or under his many aliases.The film's account of Craig's early years draws on extensive input from his parents and his sister. In one vivid exchange, he recalls the formative Read more ...