Mozart
Ólafsson, Philharmonia, Järvi, BBC Proms review - a ravishing Proms debutMonday, 16 August 2021
What does it mean to be Classical? It’s the question award-winning Icelandic pianist Víkingur Ólafsson has consistently asked in a career that has collided music from Bach to Debussy, presenting them as part of a single conversation and continuum.... Read more... |
Classical CDs: wolves, woodwinds and a masonic funeralSaturday, 17 July 2021
Martha Argerich Edition (EuroArts)Almost eight hours of Martha Argerich on film. What a glorious prospect! This six-DVD set mostly consists of recordings of live concerts. The set was released to celebrate the great Argentinian’s 80th birthday... Read more... |
La clemenza di Tito, Royal Opera review - light and dark in near-perfect balanceTuesday, 18 May 2021
It looked as if the Royal Opera might be trying to keep its distance with the first new production since lockdown. After all, Mozart’s last opera – only the Overture and March of the Priests in The Magic Flute remained to be composed in the fatal... Read more... |
Christian Blackshaw, Wigmore Hall online review - pure as the driven snowTuesday, 26 January 2021
From a distance, the pianist Christian Blackshaw bears an uncanny resemblance to Franz Liszt, silver hair swept back à la 19th century. At the piano, though, you could scarcely find two more different musicians. There seems not to be a... Read more... |
Così fan tutte, Scottish Opera online review - wit and deception in an empty theatreMonday, 14 December 2020
For its latest production, unveiled on Sunday evening but recorded in November, Scottish Opera toys playfully with the absurdities of Covid-compliant performance practice. But maybe sensing our weariness with the whole business, it is not overdone.... Read more... |
Doric Quartet, Wigmore Hall review – sombre reflectionsWednesday, 09 December 2020
With the wealth of online performances during the pandemic, it is easy to forget the regular offerings from the Wigmore Hall. The Hall found itself in a better position than most, as it was able to present its autumn schedule largely unchanged, the... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Anna Höstman, Mozart, Mark SimpsonSaturday, 05 December 2020
Brahms: Symphonies 3 & 4 Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti (ABC Classic)Why these live performances from 2015 and 2013 have waited so long for release is a mystery; this is the best Brahms symphony disc I’ve heard in ages.... Read more... |
The Magic Flute, Glyndebourne review - deeply moving light in darknessMonday, 02 November 2020
How does Mozart do it? His music can provoke deep emotions even in the unlikeliest operatic situations, if well done, and present circumstances stirred them up all the more on Sunday afternoon. Those flirtatious ladies flouncing around the prone... Read more... |
Northern Chords Festival, Church of St James and St Basil, Newcastle review - high, lucid and brightTuesday, 27 October 2020
Whatever happens next – and even in Tier 3 the Royal Liverpool Phlharmonic goes on playing to carefully distanced audiences – this will be remembered by all participants as a day of dazzling brilliance, its bright autumn light matched by so much of... Read more... |
Doric Quartet, Bandstand Chamber Festival, Battersea Park review – radiance on a late summer eveningWednesday, 02 September 2020
Wonderful as the livestreamed Proms are for players working together again and for viewers/listeners who wouldn’t be able to get to the Royal Albert Hall even if they could be admitted, I’d sacrifice them all for one evening of live musical... Read more... |
theartsdesk Q&A: horn player Sarah WillisSaturday, 11 July 2020
Horn player Sarah Willis joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2001. She juggles her position with spells of teaching, interviewing soloists and conductors for the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall and hosting an online series of Horn Hangouts... Read more... |
Mark Padmore, Mitsuko Uchida/ Benjamin Baker, Timothy Ridout, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review – hail and farewellSunday, 28 June 2020
Of course, we just had to end with a midsummer Winterreise. The Wigmore Hall’s month of lockdown concerts for BBC Radio 3 had begun with a legendary elegy – the Chaconne from Bach’s D minor Partita, written according to musical folklore in memory of... Read more... |
