Brewer, BBCSO, Bělohlávek, Barbican Hall | reviews, news & interviews
Brewer, BBCSO, Bělohlávek, Barbican Hall
Brewer, BBCSO, Bělohlávek, Barbican Hall
Mostly cheerful late romantics, with a great American soprano opulent in Marx songs
Sunday, 12 December 2010
Christine Brewer, opulent in cheerful love songs by Joseph Marx IMG
Exactly an hour and a half after Wagner's first orchestral brew of sex and religion had raised the curtain on the Royal Opera Tannhäuser, the pilgrims and floozies were at it again over the other side of town. If there was hardly the whiff of elemental theatrics ahead in Jiří Bělohlávek's surprisingly staid conducting of the overture, different treats were in store: the most opulent and musicianly of all living sopranos, Christine Brewer, in cheerful love songs by a nearly forgotten Austrian composer, and a smells-and-bells pilgrimage up a mountain and down ennobling Richard Strauss's most natural orchestral work.
Exactly an hour and a half after Wagner's first orchestral brew of sex and religion had raised the curtain on the Royal Opera Tannhäuser, the pilgrims and floozies were at it again over the other side of town. If there was hardly the whiff of elemental theatrics ahead in Jiří Bělohlávek's surprisingly staid conducting of the overture, different treats were in store: the most opulent and musicianly of all living sopranos, Christine Brewer, in cheerful love songs by a nearly forgotten Austrian composer, and a smells-and-bells pilgrimage up a mountain and down ennobling Richard Strauss's most natural orchestral work.
Strauss's "mountaineers" could have made a more rugged, less pious ascent, but who could blame them for gaping and worshipping all that beauty'
Explore topics
Share this article
more Classical music
Things to Come, LSO, Strobel, Barbican review - blissful visions of the future
Landmark film given the live-orchestra treatment
Bavouzet, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - spirit of the 1780s
Historically informed playing and a delight to hear
Fröst, Philharmonia, Lazarova, Kuusisto, Southbank Centre review - congenial new works complemented by live-wire classics
Two concerts revolving around composer Anna Clyne offer plenty of other surprises
First Person: Donatella Flick on why the conducting competition in her name is needed more than ever
The 17th Donatella Flick LSO Conducting Competition reaches its final tonight
The Chevalier, St Martin-in-the-Fields review - virtuoso journey into a shamefully neglected past
Music is the star in this retelling of the remarkable life of black composer Joseph Bologne
First Person: Anna Clyne on composing collaborations, not battles, in her latest concertos
UK premiere of 'Weathered' for clarinettist Martin Fröst is among a series of new works
Osborne, RSNO, Chan, Usher Hall, Edinburgh - cinematic sweep and surging drama
Farewell to a much-loved Principal Guest Conductor in powerful Clyne and Tchaikovsky
Amidon, Clayton, SCO, Kuusisto, Queen's Hall, Edinburgh review - profuse and outstanding musicianship
The Finnish violinist and conductor steers an insightful and exciting trio of concerts
Axing the BBC Singers: four associated musicians on why it's so wrong
Dame Sarah Connolly leads musical voices on the latest cultural vandalism
Mahler’s Third Symphony, Philharmonia, Paavo Järvi, RFH review - phosphorescent glow, depths only glimpsed
Stylish conducting, classy playing, but no big emotions in the crucial finale
Bernstein's Mass, RNCM, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a happening, a demo, an achievement
Manchester premiere of extraordinary ‘theatre piece’ marks a special anniversary
Nonclassical: The Greenhouse Effect, Barbican Conservatory review - enjoyable freestyle happening
Quirky musical responses to the climate crisis amid indoor greenery
Add comment