Classical Features
Classical musicians on life after Brexit - 2: violinist Victoria SaylesThursday, 28 January 2021
In March 2020, all my work in Australia and Sweden, where I had won contracts for several months to come, was cancelled on the day I was due to fly. Both organisations who had engaged me promptly honoured their contracts with me financially nevertheless. Read more...
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'The total confusion about post-Brexit rules adds to the distress': classical musicians speak outThursday, 21 January 2021
“Fuck business,” Boris Johnson is alleged to have said while Foreign Secretary. (He didn’t deny it). We have seen enough over the past three weeks of the impact of Brexit on fishermen, hauliers, wine merchants and a host of business people to know that he wasn’t joking. What of the impact on musicians? Read more... |
'Having to establish a real conversation with the audience is a good challenge': Raffaello Morales on a possible musical futureThursday, 31 December 2020
As this most remarkable year prepares to enter the history books, most of us who are part of the music industry have come to realise that the western world is desperately looking for solutions to an emergency of unprecedented dimensions in post-war times, and that music is not widely perceived to provide a Read more... |
Dame Fanny Waterman (1920-2020) - some recollections, with love and affectionTuesday, 22 December 2020
Dame Fanny Waterman was a true force of nature, in the best sense of the word. Her diminutive height belied a giant intellectual force and a steely determination to achieve the seemingly unachievable through every means she could muster. Read more... |
First Person: conductor Johannes Vogel on Beethoven’s Ninth as re-orchestrated by MahlerThursday, 17 December 2020
Think of the finale at a big fireworks show: the anticipation; the build up. There is nothing bigger than the Ninth Symphony. It is the climax of this year’s Beethoven celebrations. Read more... |
Not-quite-solitude on the 34th floor: violinist Maxine Kwok on the short film 'Rising'Thursday, 03 December 2020
2020: a year that at some point felt like the end of live performance for the world of the performing arts, certainly for the foreseeable future. Artists spent months without any form of collaboration, leading to a serious lack of motivation due to the decimation of performance opportunities. Read more... |
First Person: Avi Avital on 'Art of the Mandolin'Saturday, 28 November 2020
The mandolin is an instrument everybody has heard of without necessarily knowing much about it. Its history has been written by lovers of the instrument, often amateur players who are drawn to its approachable and appealing character, integrating it into their own lives, and in turn popularising it throughout the world. Read more... |
First Person: horn player Alec Frank-Gemmill on authenticity and enlightenment in lockdownSaturday, 14 November 2020
The UK’s music industry is in dire straits and my heart goes out to friends and colleagues in financial need. For a proper discussion of the current situation, I refer you to Sophia Rahman’s excellent article for theartsdesk. What I have written here is comparatively superficial. Read more... |
First Person: Jessica Duchen on writing about Beethoven's Immortal BelovedTuesday, 10 November 2020
The identity of Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved” is one of the biggest cans of worms in musical history. I hadn’t the slightest intention of writing a novel about it. At first I thought I’d create a narrated concert for the anniversary year... but that was then. Read more... |
'Josquin has defined our career': The Tallis Scholars’ Peter Phillips on the end of a major recording projectSaturday, 07 November 2020
I have never been a fan of recording “Complete Works”. These projects almost inevitably include music that one would not normally spend time and money on, just to claim that one has done it all. For this reason the Gimell catalogue, from the earliest days, will be found to have marked out the Renaissance territory, one disc per composer, each disc a distillation of the best of the writer in question... Read more... |
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