Philharmonia
Brahms Piano Concertos, Tsoy, Philharmonia, Emelyanychev, Bold Tendencies - rich epic mastery in concrete surroundingsTuesday, 10 August 2021
To excel at one massive Brahms piano concerto in a standard concert hall is cause enough for celebration. To master two over one evening in a very unorthodox space – namely, below the roof of Peckham’s former multi-storey car park – brings the... Read more... |
Der Rosenkavalier, Garsington Opera review - musical marvels, drama less often fulfilledFriday, 18 June 2021
Whatever else happens on the country opera scene this summer, the golden rose award for sheer chutzpah goes to the ever-ambitious Garsington team in pulling this off in no small style. Planning any production of Richard Strauss and Hugo von... Read more... |
Uchida, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - Bach to the futureFriday, 11 June 2021
In the beginning, 38 years ago, came a career-making Mahler Third Symphony for Esa-Pekka Salonen in his first concert with the Philharmonia. Reassembling that vast epic wouldn't be possible under present circumstances. Last night, ending 13 years as... Read more... |
Bronfman, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – celebration around C majorSaturday, 05 June 2021
One of the many things we’ll miss when Esa-Pekka Salonen moves on from his 13 years as the Philharmonia’s principal conductor will be his programming. For this first of his farewell concerts, he’s not only chosen what he loves but made sure it all... Read more... |
Coote, Philharmonia, Gardiner, Southbank Centre online review - English masterworksSaturday, 08 May 2021
This Philharmonia concert from the Royal Festival Hall comprised three masterworks of English music, following a (welcome) trend that has emerged in COVID-era streamed concerts in digging out a couple of smaller-scale, less often programmed pieces... Read more... |
Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review – wide range of American voicesTuesday, 27 October 2020
There’s an old rule in the theatre that you don’t have to go on if there are more people on stage than in the audience. Last night I counted less than 15 people listening in the cavernous auditorium of the Royal Festival Hall pitted against a fairly... Read more... |
Fidelio, Garsington Opera review - heart of darkness, light-filled liberationSaturday, 19 September 2020
It may be only six and a half months since many of us saw a production of Beethoven’s Fidelio in the opera house, but that was another world, and this post-lockdown admittance to Garsington Opera’s spacious, award-winning pavilion with its... Read more... |
BBC Proms live online: Grosvenor, Evans, Philharmonia, Järvi review – energy and sparkleThursday, 10 September 2020
Unlike the other two Proms I’ve reviewed this season, last night’s by the Philharmonia did not have any bells and whistles when it came to the staging, nor did it explore the edges of the repertoire. But the repertoire choices were good: progressing... Read more... |
Beethoven: 1808 Reconstructed, Aimard, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - a feast in fading lightTuesday, 17 March 2020
Like it or not, we live – as Beethoven did – in interesting times. In place of the revolutions, wars and occupations that convulsed the cities he knew, we now confront a silent, invisible foe that breeds an equal terror. Hence the empty seats in the... Read more... |
Mahler's 'Resurrection' Symphony, Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - big picture, stunning detailsFriday, 21 February 2020
So many performances of Mahler's most theatrical symphony every season, so few conductors who have something radically fresh to say about it. Two who do are London Philharmonic Orchestra chief Vladimir Jurowski, perfecting his vision over the years... Read more... |
Blomfield, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - sounds of a troubled truceTuesday, 21 January 2020
Concert programmes that set out to tell us a story can prove a mixed blessing. Yes, it’s valuable and stimulating to find ideas, and narratives, embodied in the musical flow. But great pieces, well-performed, have a habit of cutting loose from the... Read more... |
Watkins, Clayton, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review - a rainbow cornucopiaFriday, 17 January 2020
Horns fanfared, coasted and chorused through yet another Philharmonia winner of a concert to match the impressive planning of its Weimar season last year and no doubt a plan close to the heart of principal conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen, who started... Read more... |
