Classical music
Messiah, Wild Arts, Chichester Cathedral review - a dynamic battle between revelatory light and Stygian gloomWednesday, 18 December 2024
The Wild Arts Ensemble was founded by Orlando Jopling in 2022 to create a dynamic, pared-back style of performance in which, as he put it, the “costumes, set and props… can be packed up into a couple of suitcases that we can take with us on the... Read more... |
Messiah, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - once more, with real feelingTuesday, 17 December 2024
When does a concert become a ceremony? You generally visit the Barbican for art rather than ritual. Yet, during the Academy of Ancient Music’s performance last night, the bulk of a packed house still stood up for the “Hallelujah” that closes the... Read more... |
Christmas with Connaught Brass, Milton Court review - delightful seasonal fare from Bach to BoulangerMonday, 09 December 2024
Connaught Brass is a quintet of twenty-something players rapidly establishing an enviable reputation, and on the evidence of what I heard yesterday that reputation is fully deserved: they really are superbly good. A well-stuffed Milton Court spoke... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Christmas 2024Saturday, 07 December 2024
Trio Mediæval: Yule (2L)Pick of my Christmas discs is this sublime collection from Trio Mediæval on the Norwegian audiophile label 2L, reflecting yuletide’s origins in Northern European pagan culture. Imaginative and idiomatic-sounding... Read more... |
Giltburg, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth, Portsmouth Guildhall review - seemingly effortless élanFriday, 06 December 2024
A time must come again when British orchestras return to complete Tchaikovsky ballet scores in concert, as in the BBC glory days of the great Rozhdestvensky. We were halfway there with The Nutcracker's second act in Mark Wigglesworth’s second... Read more... |
Bach Mendelssohn Festival, Part I, Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra review - the flame that never diedWednesday, 04 December 2024
“I am not better than my fathers.” Cracked, pained, occasionally rasping, rising to a fearsome roar then subsiding to a throaty whisper, Sir Bryn Terfel’s still-formidable bass-baritone made the great vault of Wren’s Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford... Read more... |
Currie, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - sparkle and intrigueTuesday, 03 December 2024
Kahchun Wong’s final concert of 2024 in the Hallé Manchester season was something of a surprise. At first sight, the sparkle in the programme seemed likely to come from James MacMillan’s Veni, Veni, Emmanuel – his percussion concerto, with the star... Read more... |
Rajakesar, Selaocoe, The Hermes Experiment, Wigmore Hall review - a joyful, fascinating laboratory of noiseMonday, 25 November 2024
There were points when this concert felt like the musical equivalent of watching the atom split – as well as notes there were animal shrieks, sinister rattles, sibilant serpentine sussurations, and primal throaty rumbles. Indian-American composer... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Vitamins, kings and magic spellsSaturday, 23 November 2024
Brahms: Piano Concertos 1 and 2, Solo piano works Igor Levit (piano), Wiener Philharmoniker/Christian Thielemann (Sony)Who’d have thought that Igor Levit and Christian Thielemann would be such effective partners? Levitt is one of the most... Read more... |
Kavakos, Philharmonia, Blomstedt, RFH review - a supreme valediction forbidding mourningFriday, 22 November 2024
From a privileged position in the Festival Hall stalls, I could see 97-year old Herbert Blomstedt’s near-immobile back as he sat on a piano stool with the score in front of him, but also his supremely expressive right arm and hand, every finger... Read more... |
Perianes, Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Payare, Barbican review - elegance and drama but not enough biteWednesday, 20 November 2024
When the Venezuelan Rafael Payare was appointed as conductor of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal (OSM) two years ago, his first action was to blast his way through a French Berlitz course. A graduate of the El Sistema music-teaching project –... Read more... |
La Serenissima, Wigmore Hall review - an Italian menu to savourTuesday, 19 November 2024
For 30 years, La Serenissima have re-mapped the landscape of the Italian Baroque repertoire so that its towering figures, notably Vivaldi, no longer look like isolated peaks but integrated parts of a spectacular range. The ensemble founded by... Read more... |
