theartsdesk com, first with arts reviews, news and interviews
Rachel Halliburton
Sunday, 12 May 2024
Gesualdo was, in the words of New Yorker critic Alex Ross – “irrefutably badass”, a double murderer, sado-masochist and black magic enthusiast who also found time to write music...
Kieron Tyler
Sunday, 12 May 2024
The name, Caron and Michelle Maso explained to Los Angeles radio DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, was a literal description. “We’re both like five feet. We’re all grown up, but we’re still...
Graham Rickson
Sunday, 12 May 2024
Glance at The Holdovers’ synopsis and you might suspect that Alexander Payne’s latest effort is a slice of lightweight seasonal schmaltz. Yes, it is set at Christmas, and contains...
Nick Hasted
Saturday, 11 May 2024
Planet of the Apes is the most artfully replenished franchise, from the original series’ elegant time-travel loop to the reboot’s rich, deepening milieu. Director Wes Ball again...
Graham Rickson
Saturday, 11 May 2024
Sir Neville Marriner: The Complete Warner Classics Recordings (Warner)Assembling Sir Neville Marriner’s complete discography would probably require a crate; this weighty but...
Jane Edwardes
Saturday, 11 May 2024
Who is Sappho? What is she? Not much is known about the influential Greek poet who was born some 2500 years ago. Her poetry was celebrated during her lifetime, but very little has...
David Nice
Saturday, 11 May 2024
No soloist gets to perform Shostakovich’s colossal First Violin Concerto without mastery of its fearsome technical demands....
Jenny Gilbert
Saturday, 11 May 2024
If there is a more striking, more moving, more downright enjoyable way to experience Shakespeare’s second-from-last play, I...
Robert Beale
Saturday, 11 May 2024
Manchester Collective have come a long way since their early days of chamber music in dark and dingy Salford basements and...
Liz Thomson
Saturday, 11 May 2024
Having moved out of her mother’s apartment aged 15 to become “an emancipated minor” and set up her own record label,...
Demetrios Matheou
Friday, 10 May 2024
Italian director Alice Rohrwacher (The Wonders, Happy as Lazarro), ploughs a charmingly idiosyncratic furrow that might...
Heather Neill
Friday, 10 May 2024
In Shakespeare's day theatre was regarded as "wanton" by those of a Puritan disposition who feared boys dressed as girls...
Saskia Baron
Friday, 10 May 2024
This long, fascinating documentary was apparently intended as the centrepiece of last autumn’s BFI celebration of the films...
Gary Naylor
Friday, 10 May 2024
We open on one of those grim, grim training rooms that all offices have – the apologetic sofa, the single electric...
Thomas H Green
Friday, 10 May 2024
Anniversary is Canadian singer-songwriter Abigail Lapell’s sixth album (if we include last year’s lengthy EP of lullabies)....
Gary Naylor
Thursday, 09 May 2024
Legions of Ghibli fanatics may love the heartwarming My Neighbour Totoro and the heartbreaking Grave of the Fireflies, but...
Joe Muggs
Thursday, 09 May 2024
The buildup to this album offered quite a bit of hope. The promo blurb with it talks about “cutting loose, trying new things...
Mark Kidel
Wednesday, 08 May 2024
One hundred and twenty sculptures, and so much more: the current Brancusi blockbuster at the Centre Pompidou, the first...
Guy Oddy
Wednesday, 08 May 2024
Bab L’Bluz are a French-Moroccan four-piece that play a tasty blend of fiery psychedelic rock backed up with hypnotic North...
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disc of the day
DVD/Blu-ray: The Holdovers
Bittersweet, beautifully observed seasonal comedy - not just for Christmas
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
tv
Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story, Disney+ review - how the boy from Sayreville, NJ conquered the world
Four-part documentary series outstays its welcome
Red Eye, ITV review - Anglo-Chinese relations tested in junk-food thriller
Richard Armitage returns in another preposterous potboiler
Blue Lights Series 2, BBC One review - still our best cop show despite a slacker structure
The engaging Belfast cops are less tightly focused this time around
film
DVD/Blu-ray: The Holdovers
Bittersweet, beautifully observed seasonal comedy - not just for Christmas
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes review - a post-human paradise
A richly suggestive new era for the franchise reconnects with its 1968 start
La Chimera review - magical realism with a touch of Fellini
Josh O’Connor excels as an archaeologist turned graverobber in the Italian countryside
new music
Music Reissues Weekly: Little Girls - Valley Songs
Deserved tribute to the Los Angeles new wave popsters who failed to click
Album: Abigail Lapell - Anniversary
An engaging - if doleful - set from the Canadian folk-Americana singer
classical
Britten Sinfonia, The Marian Consort, Milton Court review - a journey around turbulent spirit Gesualdo
Contemporary homages among the works in this celebration of the Renaissance 'badass'
Classical CDs: Coffee, peppercorns and puppets
A prolific conductor's centenary celebrated, plus Hungarian ballet music and baroque keyboard concertos
Gomyo, National Symphony Orchestra, Kuokman, National Concert Hall, Dublin review - painful brilliance around a heart of darkness
A violinist for all facets of a towering Shostakovich masterpiece
opera
L'Olimpiade, Irish National Opera review - Vivaldi's long-distance run sustained by perfect teamwork
Sporting confusions and star-crossed lovers clarified by vivacious singing and playing
Remembering conductor Andrew Davis (1944-2024)
Fellow conductors, singers, instrumentalists and administrators recall a true Mensch
Götterdämmerung, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - outside looking and listening in, always with fascination
Every orchestral phrase and colour perfect, vocal drama often a notch below
theatre
Sappho, Southwark Playhouse Elephant review - a glitzy celebration of sapphic love
Too much camp and not enough content in this tribute to the Greek poet
Twelfth Night, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre review - burlesque overwhelms the darker notes in this mixed revival
Queer themes and music take centre stage in a café setting
Multiple Casualty Incident, The Yard Theatre review - NGO medics in training have problems of their own
Sami Ibrahim's play examines ethics in a war zone, but pivots to a gimmicky love story
dance
The Winter's Tale, Royal Ballet review - what a story, and what a way to tell it!
A compelling case for ROH's ballet-friendly rebrand
All You Need Is Death review - a future folk horror classic
Irish folkies seek a cursed ancient song in Paul Duane's impressive fiction debut
MacMillan Celebrated, Royal Ballet review - out of mothballs, three vintage works to marvel at
Less-known pieces spanning the career of a great choreographer underline his greatness
comedy
Jonathan Pie, Duke of York's Theatre review - spoof political reporter takes no prisoners
Tom Walker in a bravura display
Spencer Jones: Making Friends, Soho Theatre review - award-winning comedian mines his post-lockdown escape to the country
If big chickens scare you, this is your thing!
Books
Extract: Pariah Genius by Iain Sinclair
A form-defying writer explores the troubled mindscape of a Soho photographer
Jonn Elledge: A History of the World in 47 Borders review - a view from the boundaries
Enjoyable journey through the byways of how lines on maps have shaped the modern world
Lisa Kaltenegger: Alien Earths review - a whole new world
Kaltenegger's traverses space in her thoughtful exploration of the search for life among the stars
visual arts
Brancusi, Pompidou Centre, Paris review - a sculptor's spiritual quest for form and essence
The Paris landmark signs off with a historic survey
Expressionists: Kandinsky, Münter and the Blue Rider, Tate Modern review - a missed opportunity
Wonderful paintings, but only half the story
Eye to Eye: Homage to Ernst Scheidegger, MASI Lugano review - era-defining artist portraits
One of Switzerland's greatest photographers celebrated with a major retrospective
latest comments
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