CDs/DVDs
theartsdesk
This month's CD selection is headed up by extraordinary albums from modern folkist Chris Wood, a startling come-back from Gil Scott-Heron and pretenders to the New Rave throne New Young Pony Club. Among the new releases we have the late Johnny Cash, Krystle Warren, Midlake, John Hiatt, Frightened Rabbit and ex-e.s.t bassist Dan Berglund. The compilation of the month is from Soweto and there's a fabulous tango soundtrack. A veritable audio feast. Our reviewers are Russ Coffey, Peter Culshaw, Thomas H Green, Howard Male, Marcus O'Dair, Neil Spencer, Sue Steward, Adam Sweeting and Graeme Thomson Read more ...
graham.rickson
This month's classical music releases include mighty new recordings of Bach, Brahms, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev by major orchestras. Other recordings shine new light on Nielsen and Dallapiccola and make a case for the genius of Bernard Herrmann. From the quirkier end of the spectrum there is choral music from the Baltic, Stravinsky's compositions for piano and violin, a trio of new and older recordings from Joanna MacGregor and Amy Dickson's playing Taverner and Glass on soprano saxophone. As ever, click on the links to buy these recordings on Amazon.Rachmaninov: Symphony No 2, Vocalise, Read more ...
theartsdesk
Our February DVD releases are light on stars, heavy on variety. We range from the Amazon rain forest to female wrestling and killer futons (we're not joking) in Japan and clandestine video reportage in Burma; from Pushkin’s Russia to Darwin’s England and the French criminal underworld. The Americans are under siege in love and war. Our DVD of the Month finds Britain's Sam Mendes taking a quizzical look at the all-American dream. Peter Watkins's Privilege, exhumed from the Age of Aquarius, is the selected re-release. And our reluctant choice of turkey is the thriller that caught Bertrand Read more ...
theartsdesk
January's most riveting CDs found by our critics includes those by Malian master-musicians Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, an Italian surrealist, an Algerian rocker, British Big Band jazz, Northern chamber folk and some sparky veterans releasing their best stuff for decades including Sade, Massive Attack and Peter Gabriel. The CD of the month is by Vinicio Capossela. Stinker: the over-rated Vampire Weekend. Reviewers this month are Howard Male, Thomas H Green, Peter Quinn, Robert Sandall, Graeme Thomson, Sue Steward, Peter Culshaw, Russ Coffey and Joe Muggs.CD of the Month
Vinicio Read more ...
theartsdesk
Heading up this month's classical selection is a 16-CD budget box set of the complete works of Frédéric Chopin, issued to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the consumptive Pole's birth. Plus we review a rare piano concerto by Ralph Vaughan Williams, a disc of even rarer string orchestra works by the post-war Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, a fresh coupling of the Debussy and Ravel string quartets, a new version of Bruckner's mighty Eighth from the French-Canadian wunderkind Yannick Nézet-Séguin and two sets of historic recordings conducted by "Glorious John" Barbirolli. Our reviewers this Read more ...
theartsdesk
There's a strong distaff presence in theartsdesk's third DVD round-up. The headline film is Kathryn Bigelow's superb war thrillerThe Hurt Locker, currently mopping up awards in the US and a hot favourite for the Oscars. Also in the mix: Audrey Tautou as the redoubtable doyenne of French fashion in Anne Fontaine's Coco Before Chanel and Julie Christie in Sally Potter's avant-garde 1983 debut feature The Gold Diggers. Fear not, however: a robust testosterone level is maintained by Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, by the hit stag-party comedy The Hangover and by Antichrist, Lars Read more ...
theartsdesk
theartsdesk's critics look back fondly on their favourites of 2009. An eclectic selection full of eccentricities, our favourite music from the past year varies from the pop strangeness of Lady Gaga and Muse to "world-mariachi" from Tom Russell, West African grooviness from Oumou Sangare, electronica from Tim Exile, jazz from Branford Marsalis, Brazilian seduction from Céu as well as a couple of old warhorses on top form: Tom Waits and Neil Young. We've made it easier for you to purchase our recommendations: all you need to do is click on the link at the end of each review.2009: a selection Read more ...
Ismene Brown
The improvement in ballet film from video to DVD has been colossal and welcome. The audio experience too has improved by leaps and bounds as it is more and more geared towards computers with earphones, rather than dodgy TVs. Hand in hand with technological advances has come a long-overdue new openness to recording by the Royal Ballet, which is now catching up with other leading world companies in considerable style. Here theartsdesk reviews significant new ballet DVDs plus some Christmas dance treats. Our reviewers are Ismene Brown and David Nice.Even in a few years, standards of light Read more ...
theartsdesk
Our pick of the latest Classical CDs ranges from Tchaikovsky's first and final symphonies to Greek-themed songs by Schubert, by way of late Stravinsky ballets, rare Roussel, a complete Sibelius cycle, cross-over music for recorder and a Superman Symphony. Our reviewers this month are Edward Seckerson, Graham Rickson and Ismene Brown.CD of the Month
Tchaikovsky: Symphonies No.1 “Winter Daydreams” & No.6 “Pathétique”, London Philharmonic Orchestra/Vladimir Jurowski (LPO)
by Edward Seckerson
Exceptional performances from opposite ends of Tchaikovsky’s symphonic canon – and the secret of Read more ...
theartsdesk
This round-up of the freshest new music and most well-ripened classics we could find in November features everything from Miles Davis to Kraftwerk, Norah Jones to the actual Pope, via Toms Petty and Waits, Dubstep and related bass-driven electronica from Portugal, Angola, Denmark and Tanzania, and the soundtrack to Life On Earth. Our reviewers this month are Robert Sandall, Peter Culshaw, Adam Sweeting, Joe Muggs, Thomas H Green, Howard Male and Marcus O'Dair.
CD of the Month
Tom Waits, Glitter and Doom Live (Anti)
by Robert Sandall
When I saw Tom Waits at the Hammersmith Odeon (now Read more ...
Veronica Lee
November’s comedy releases come just in time for the festive season - those stockings won’t fill themselves, you know. From feelgood humour to thoughtful (and very funny, too) discourses of race, sex and class, there's a comedy turn recorded live to suit all tastes. There are some crackers available and here’s a selection of the best on offer.Chris Rock, Kill the Messenger (Warner Bros)
The American self-styled hip-hop comedian has long since attained worldwide stardom, both through stand-up and film, and this DVD, filmed in New York, London and Johannesburg on his 2008 world tour, is Read more ...
theartsdesk
This month's survey of the latest films released on DVD assesses the work of directors old and new, male and female. Cinema's great early romantic Frank Borzage is available in a box set. The work of French auteur Claire Denis and American maverick Gus Van Sant are assessed. There is also an Austro-Hungarian flavour, with Sacha Baron Cohen's Brüno on the one hand and Márta Mészáros's classic 1984 study of communism, Diary for My Children, on the other. British releases include Duncan Jones's debut Moon and Shane Meadows's mockumentary Le Donk and Scor-zay-zee. Hollywood supplies this month's Read more ...