Beethoven
Gerald Finley, Antonio Pappano, BarbicanMonday, 12 December 2016
This would have been an intriguing recital at any time. But in the context of Brexit, a programme of songs in a second language, of music expressing composers’ fascination with another country, another landscape, another sound-world, had a poignancy... Read more... |
Igor Levit, Wigmore HallWednesday, 07 December 2016
Igor Levit began his recording career with Beethoven’s last three piano sonatas, and his deeply felt, impressively mature readings made his name. Now he is performing a full cycle at the Wigmore Hall, and his take on the earlier sonatas turns out to... Read more... |
DVD/Blu-ray: NapoléonSunday, 20 November 2016
Like Proust's In Search of Lost Time, Abel Gance's Napoléon is the monument of a genius badly in need of self-editing. In both instances, everything testifies to the singular vision of the artist - in Gance's case, his innovations in the field of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Schubert, TostiSaturday, 19 November 2016
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Op. 90, Op. 101 and Op. 106 Steven Osborne (Hyperion)These three Beethoven sonatas are often thrown together as a trilogy; each work seems to lead into the next, the technical demands and scale increasing as they progress.... Read more... |
Borodin Quartet, Wigmore HallSaturday, 05 November 2016
The Borodin Quartet has been playing for over 70 years, and in the early days collaborated closely with Dmitri Shostakovich. None of the players from then are in the line-up now, of course, but the group has worked hard to maintain its distinctive... Read more... |
Sunday Book: Haruki Murakami - Absolutely on MusicSunday, 30 October 2016
Every fan of his fiction knows that Haruki Murakami loves jazz and lets the music play throughout his books. Yet in this 320-page dialogue between the novelist and his equally eminent compatriot, conductor Seiji Ozawa, it’s the veteran maestro of... Read more... |
Hunt, London Firebird Orchestra, Bloxham, St Paul's Covent GardenWednesday, 12 October 2016
It's harder for young professional musicians to be judged in standard repertoire – the very greatest music, in short – than to make their mark tackling the unknown in a wacky venue. High levels of energy and technical skill married to... Read more... |
10 Questions for Conductor Thomas DausgaardThursday, 29 September 2016
One of two Danish Thomases at the head of BBC bands (compatriot Thomas Søndergård is at the helm of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales), Thomas Dausgaard joins the Glasgow-based BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra as chief conductor this season.... Read more... |
Beethoven Ninth, RLPO, Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolWednesday, 28 September 2016
The new season at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is focusing on revolutionaries. Bach, Beethoven and Berlioz all feature strongly over the next few months, as will Stravinsky and – where else but Liverpool? – The Beatles.The RLPO has another... Read more... |
Lammermuir Festival 2016, East LothianSunday, 25 September 2016
It’s just a short trip down the A1 from Edinburgh. But East Lothian – with its big skies, wide-open spaces, empty beaches and seemingly inexhaustable supply of quaint, historic villages – feels like a long, long way from the Scottish capital.... Read more... |
Jeremy Denk, Wigmore HallSunday, 18 September 2016
Medieval to Modern – Jeremy Denk’s Wigmore Hall recital took us on a whistle-stop tour of Western music, beginning with Machaut in the mid-14th century and ending with Ligeti at the end of the 20th. The programme was made up of 25 short works, each... Read more... |
Prom 71: Staatskapelle Dresden, ThielemannFriday, 09 September 2016
You know what they say about men with big hands. Christian Thielemann has them, that’s for sure. Massive, meat-cleaving clappers, carving through the air. They give a pretty heavy upbeat too, and a generalissimo’s point and jab for a cue. If you’re... Read more... |
