Schubert
Hagen Quartet, Wigmore HallMonday, 01 May 2017
The Hagen Quartet has been playing together for decades, and it shows. The group, which includes three siblings, performs with a deep and intuitive sense of unity: of timbre, technique, articulation and intent. Where most quartets are clearly led by... Read more... |
Tara Erraught, Ulrich Pluta, James Baillieu, Wigmore HallWednesday, 08 March 2017
As a scan through the 17-year list of Rosenblatt Recitals quickly reveals, sopranos and tenors come and (often as not) go. Much rarer is the opportunity to enjoy the gifts of a mezzo-soprano near the start of what should, all things being equal, be... Read more... |
Elisabeth Leonskaja, Wigmore HallFriday, 27 January 2017
Restlessness in a good sense was the keynote of Elisabeth Leonskaja's latest revelatory recital. At 71, the Russian pianist, now an Austrian citizen, has all the supreme mastery it takes to make the volatility work: perfect weight and balance,... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Fauré, Poulenc, Franui, Sami JunnonenSaturday, 07 January 2017
Aubade – Music by Fauré and Poulenc Västerås Sinfonietta/Howard Shelley (piano and conductor) (dB Productions)January blues? Those afflicted should self-medicate with this collection instead of nipping down to the nearest off-licence. Nothing cheers... Read more... |
Natalie Clein: 'The cello is part of my being'Friday, 06 January 2017
The cello is so deeply engrained in my fingers, my imagination, it’s part of my being – my life would feel amputated without it. You fall in love with the instrument, the music, and then you embark on the life-long task of trying to get closer to... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: Pianist Idil Biret at 75Monday, 21 November 2016
Has any living pianist had a richer or more charmed life than Idil Biret? As a child prodigy she studied in Paris with Nadia Boulanger and Alfred Cortot, and both there and in Germany with Wilhelm Kempff. At the age of four she was reproducing Bach... 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... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Leo, Martinů, SchubertSaturday, 22 October 2016
Leonardo Leo: Sacred Works Ensemble &cetera/Ulrike Hofbauer (soprano and direction) (Deutsche Harmonia Mundi)Leonardo Leo lived and worked in Naples in the early 18th century, effectively running the city’s musical life alongside Francesco... Read more... |
Smith, Wyn-Rogers, Philharmonia, Pons, RFHMonday, 17 October 2016
The Philharmonia’s Sunday concert wasn’t quite the event they’d planned. Christoph von Dohnányi scored a hit last season with Schubert's Ninth Symphony, so his reading of the Eighth seemed an ideal way to begin. But Dohnányi withdrew early on,... 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... |
Things to ComeFriday, 02 September 2016
One of the many astonishing things in Mia Hansen-Løve’s fifth film is watching Isabelle Huppert hold back tears. In one scene they smear almost involuntarily down her face, in another she transforms them into a bark of nervous laughter. Huppert... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Rosendal Festival: Schubert above a fjordWednesday, 24 August 2016
More than just a great and serious pianist, Leif Ove Andsnes is a Mensch. His special gift in recent years has been to bring young musicians just establishing their careers together with star players like himself in beautiful and/or interesting... Read more... |
