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BBC Proms: Clein, Britten Sinfonia, BBC Singers, HillSaturday, 03 September 2011
Dominated by a focus on contemporary music, this year’s Proms’ Saturday Matinees have also developed something of a heavenward glance as the series has progressed. Last weekend it was the Christian mysticism of Hildegard of Bingen at the fore, with... Read more... |
BBC Proms: Lazić, Lloyd Webber, BBC Philharmonic, SinaiskyFriday, 12 August 2011
Several Prommers fainted, possibly out of boredom, in a longer than ever first movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto. The boredom, palpable around me, came not from pianist Dejan Lazić transcribing the fiddle part for his own pleasure - a... Read more... |
A second string to the Menuhin bowSaturday, 19 March 2011Yehudi Menuhin's influence continues to reach out a hand to young instrumentalists. His Menuhin Violin Competition for young players under 22 is internationally known; last weekend in the Waterloo Chamber of Windsor Castle - a staggeringly... Read more... |
Steven Isserlis, Academy of Ancient Music, Wigmore HallThursday, 27 January 2011
No self-mutilation or incest, but plenty of daddy issues at the Wigmore Hall last night in a musical glance through the Bach family album. Carefully keeping Johann Sebastian out of the way (presumably lest he show everyone else up and spoil the fun... Read more... |
Steven Isserlis, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Viviane Hagner, Wigmore HallFriday, 12 November 2010
First, an admission. I have a blindspot for the chamber work of Fauré, Saint-Saëns and Ravel. I've tried my best, acquainted myself with the most stirring recordings of the finest pieces, got friends to hold my hand. But I've never been able to... Read more... |
Russian afternoon, Rudy, Ivashkin, Kings PlaceSaturday, 11 September 2010
Two years after its first festive spree of 100 events, Kings Place has become the most congenial of all London's concert-hall zones in which to hang loose. On Friday afternoon I could have trotted happily between Russian piano classics, youth jazz... Read more... |
Classical CDs Round-Up 11Saturday, 21 August 2010
This month’s new releases include a skilled orchestral re-imagining of Debussy piano music, some unfairly neglected late romanticism and a box of late Haydn symphonies. There’s a sublime Brahms chamber work, and three contrasting interpretations of... Read more... |
Christian & Tanja Tetzlaff, Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore HallTuesday, 11 May 2010
Chamber music is a highly motivational experience - here is a group of instruments of quite different qualities parading, fighting, ganging up, inviting each other’s new ideas, dialoguing, and all this variety heightening the build-up to the moment... Read more... |
Resonances at the Wallace CollectionMonday, 10 May 2010
It's an admirable project: to recast the interiors of stately homes as immersive artworks, a musical recital combined with sound installations designed to make the viewer look anew at their surroundings. Certainly as I entered the hallway of... Read more... |
The Berlin Philharmonic European Concert 2010, Sheldonian Theatre, OxfordSaturday, 01 May 2010
"Madness! Madness! Everywhere madness!" The unsung words of cobbler-philosopher Hans Sachs in the third-act prelude to Wagner's Die Meistersinger might seem like an odd opening manifesto for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's annual May Day... Read more... |
LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 29 April 2010
For many of us, this was bound to be an emotional evening. Noëlle Mann, doyenne of all things Prokofievian on the editorial, archival, teaching and performing fronts, died peacefully at home last Friday, and it was to her that Vladimir Jurowski... Read more... |
Wolfgang Rihm Day, BarbicanSaturday, 13 March 2010
It's hard to miss German composer Wolfgang Rihm. He has an enormous head. There it is, bulging from his giant frame, a big, friendly grin slapped onto it while he wanders around the Barbican on his celebratory day, none of it going to waste. Listen... Read more... |
