Mahler
theartsdesk at the Tsinandali Festival: young Caucasians join hands and instrumentsTuesday, 15 October 2019
Two hours' drive from Tbilisi over a beautiful mountain pass, lushly wooded on the descent, the Tsinandali Estate has been central to Georgia's wine-growing district of Kakheti since poet-prince Prince Alexander Chavchavadze produced the first... Read more... |
Cargill, RSNO, Søndergård, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - luscious opening to a rich seasonTuesday, 08 October 2019
The conductor Thomas Søndergård turned 50 on Friday. He marked the occasion, which coincided with the opening concert of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra’s winter season, with a short homily on the contradictions of age – “the young seek... Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival 2019: Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dudamel - detailed judgment day canvasSunday, 04 August 2019
Since time immemorial the Edinburgh International Festival has started with a juicy choral epic designed to show off the Festival Chorus and the opulent Usher Hall. So this performance of Mahler’s Second Symphony would normally have been billed as... Read more... |
Prom 18: Andsnes, Mahnke, Skelton, BBCSO, Gardner review – all passion spentFriday, 02 August 2019
It’s a curiosity of music that a performance can occasionally be better – more persuasive and impressive – than the work itself. Even Britten’s most devoted advocates would find it hard to rank the Piano Concerto among his masterpieces. In his... Read more... |
Chetham's Symphony Orchestra, Chetham's Chorus, Threlfall, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester - a thrilling triumphSaturday, 06 July 2019
As end-of-term concerts go, Mahler’s Eighth Symphony is a biggie. In fact it’s hard to imagine any place of secondary education where they would even contemplate it.But for Chetham’s School of Music, the "Symphony of a Thousand" was a doable task,... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Saint-Saëns, Noemi GyoriSaturday, 22 June 2019
Mahler: Symphony No 10, completed and arranged for chamber orchestra by Michelle Casteletti Lapland Chamber Orchestra/John Storgårds (BIS)Other Mahler symphonies have been downsized on CD: there are superb transcriptions of Nos 7 and 9 from... Read more... |
Cate Haste: Passionate Spirit - The Life of Alma Mahler review - a racy life pacily narratedSunday, 16 June 2019
Charismatic, full of vital elan to the end, inconsistent, fitfully creative, a casually anti-semitic Conservative Catholic married to two of the greatest Jewish artists, Alma Mahler/Gropius/Werfel née Schindler can never be subject to a boring... Read more... |
Williams, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall Manchester review - vision before gloomMonday, 03 June 2019
The BBC Philharmonic have given memorable accounts of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 4 in Manchester before – notably conducted by Günther Herbig in 2010 and by John Storgårds in 2014 – but surely none as harrowingly grim as under Mark Wigglesworth this... Read more... |
Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Pappano, Barbican review – joy in despairMonday, 27 May 2019
As one half of British politics convulsed into a deeper spasm of suicidal fury, it came almost as a relief to hear a great Anglo-Italian conductor lead an impassioned Roman orchestra in a massive, terrifying symphony once described by a (German)... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mahler, Schumann, Tamara StefanovichSaturday, 18 May 2019
Mahler: Symphony No 7 Budapest Festival Orchestra/Ivan Fischer (Channel Classics)“It is my best work and it has a cheerful character.” So said Mahler about his Symphony No 7, and on the basis of this exuberant, feisty performance, Ivan Fischer... Read more... |
LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - inner magic eventually joins outward masteryThursday, 09 May 2019
Nearly 17 years ago, Simon Rattle inaugurated his era at the helm of the Berlin Philharmonic with Mahler's Fifth Symphony. It couldn't hope to possess the thrill of discovery which had marked his Birmingham Mahler – after all, the Berliners had long... Read more... |
Soltani, LPO, Gardner, RFH review – disciplined and dynamic accountsMonday, 25 March 2019
No successor has yet been named to Vladimir Jurowski as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic, so it is interesting to note that Edward Gardner is making several appearances with the orchestra this season. The two conductors are similar in... Read more... |
