Manchester
Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, RNCM, ManchesterFriday, 03 March 2017
Manchester Camerata give relatively few old-fashioned concerts these days – I mean the sort that are done in purpose-built concert halls, with a conductor, soloist and conventional orchestra strength – because they’re busy crossing boundaries and... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: New OrderSunday, 12 February 2017
The equipment pictured above is the Powertran 1024, one of the first digital sequencers to hit the market. According to the May 1981 issue of Electronics Today International magazine, which unveiled it to the public, the British-invented “1024... Read more... |
Grosvenor, BBCPO, Gernon, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterTuesday, 07 February 2017
Two young guys called Ben graced the BBC Philharmonic platform at the Bridgewater Hall – looking almost like Ant and Dec if you let your imagination wander. Ben Gernon, 27, had just been announced as the orchestra’s new Principal Guest Conductor (... Read more... |
CD: Elbow - Little FictionsWednesday, 01 February 2017
Elbow fans will remember how 2014's The Take Off and Landing of Everything took the band's existing sound and twisted it a fraction. The result was a piece of work that, above all, felt powerfully uneasy. Not simply because of the personal... Read more... |
Reissue CDs Weekly: LudusSunday, 22 January 2017
At September 2010’s MTV Video Music Awards, Lady Gaga took the stage in a dress made of stitched-together cuts of meat. The outfit, she said, was a political statement worn to draw attention to the aspect of the US military's don't ask, don't tell... Read more... |
Bavouzet, BBCPO, Collon, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterMonday, 16 January 2017
Colin Matthews’s arrangements for orchestra of the 24 Debussy Préludes (originally commissioned by the Hallé) have been widely admired. The BBC Philharmonic’s concert, conducted by Nicholas Collon, at the Bridgewater Hall on Friday night began with... Read more... |
No Offence, Series 2, Channel 4Thursday, 05 January 2017
We're back at Friday Street, the crumbling cop shop on the wrong side of Manchester, where DI Viv Deering marshals her squad of anarchic misfits to fight crime. Paul Abbott's rude but not crude police comedy drama was a great hit first time round... Read more... |
The Choir: Gareth's Best in Britain, BBC TwoWednesday, 02 November 2016
Got Soul! Honeybelles! Mums in Durham! Three shortlisted finalists from the north and Scotland. Along the way we – and Gareth Malone – were sung to by the Mancunian Rhythm of Life, not to mention Too Many Cooks in Inverness, and a septuagenarian all... Read more... |
Cold Feet, Series Finale, ITVMonday, 24 October 2016
In the end, what makes a good drama series? It’s probably that you want more of it. This is the end of Cold Feet until a next time which has already been promised, and more is certainly what’s wanted. No one was quite sure if a reincarnation of Cold... Read more... |
The Mighty Walzer: ping-pong in the roundWednesday, 22 June 2016
It’s a little over two years since I was approached to adapt The Mighty Walzer by Howard Jacobson for Manchester Royal Exchange. I was living in Liverpool at the time and had recently seen That Day We Sang by Victoria Wood at the Exchange. It was... Read more... |
Hallé Children’s Choir and Orchestra, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterWednesday, 22 June 2016
’Tis the season for big children’s choirs to show off their end-of-season projects, and the Hallé Children’s Choir and Orchestra had something exceptional to present under Sir Mark Elder’s baton on Sunday afternoon: the world premiere of Jonathan... Read more... |
CD: Bugzy Malone - Facing TimeFriday, 27 May 2016
In 2016, grime is facing a new test of its ability to operate on its own terms. At the start of this decade the genre was flirting with major label crossover that resulted in a few great pop records, but all too often diluted its musical impact or... Read more... |
