Classical Reviews
LSO, Guildhall School, Rattle, Barbican review - irresistible momentumFriday, 21 June 2019
The Barbican Hall hardly boasts the numinous acoustic of Gloucester Cathedral for which Vaughan Williams composed his Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, but Sir Simon Rattle has long known how to build space into the architecture of what he conducts. Read more...
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Goodyear, Chineke! Orchestra, Marshall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham Review - engaging and upliftingMonday, 17 June 2019
Having played their first concert just four years ago, the Chineke! Orchestra gave a rousing, exuberant performance for an ensemble still in its infancy. It’s a young orchestra, not just in the sense of only being founded a few years ago, but one that comprises many young players too. Though its youthful passion and energy was very much to the fore, there were some points in Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No 1 when a lack of experience let them down. Read more... |
Kozhukhin, RPO, Petrenko, RFH review - more cultured than electrifyingWednesday, 12 June 2019
With two German giants roaring - Brahms in leonine mode, Richard Strauss more with tongue in armour-plated cheek - it could have all been too much. Read more... |
Morison, Williams, RLPO, Davis, Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool review – a vision of near perfectionTuesday, 11 June 2019
It wasn’t really the orchestra’s night. Nor the soloists'. Nor, even, the conductor's. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Choir totally stole the show, well surpassing the incredibly high standards which they already regularly attain and performing not as a large symphonic chorus but as a something akin to one of the highly specialist choirs with which this country is blessed. Read more... |
Philharmonia, Salonen, RFH review – bittersweet BerlinMonday, 10 June 2019
Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Philharmonia kicked off their series of concerts devoted to the edgy culture of the Weimar Republic with a programme that featured three works (out of four) derived in some way from the musical stage. That included, as a rip-roaring finale, the conclusion to Shostakovich’s football-themed ballet from 1930, The Golden Age. Read more... |
Kuusisto, Aurora Orchestra, Collon, Birmingham Town Hall review - aural voyage through spaceWednesday, 05 June 2019
It’s quite a weighty concept, and one which could easily have buckled had both the music and its execution not been of the highest quality. Aurora Orchestra’s "Music of the Spheres" was a concert inspired by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras’s theory that each of the planets in our solar system must emit a particular sound through its orbit. Read more... |
Williams, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall Manchester review - vision before gloomMonday, 03 June 2019
The BBC Philharmonic have given memorable accounts of Shostakovich’s Symphony No 4 in Manchester before – notably conducted by Günther Herbig in 2010 and by John Storgårds in 2014 – but surely none as harrowingly grim as under Mark Wigglesworth this time. Read more... |
Kuusisto, Philharmonia, Rouvali, RFH review - new principal conductor steps upSaturday, 01 June 2019
Last night saw the official unveiling of 33-year-old Finn Santtu-Matias Rouvali as Principal Conductor Designate of the Philharmonia Orchestra, an appointment that has been widely welcomed, not least on theartsdesk. And while I enjoyed Rouvali’s work I had some reservations, and I would like to see him again before coming to a firm judgment. Read more... |
CBSO, Gražinytė-Tyla, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - joy unboundedSaturday, 01 June 2019
You can tell a lot from the opening of Brahms’s Second Symphony. |
Benedetti, SCO, Birmingham Town Hall review - a powerful musical allianceTuesday, 28 May 2019
Playing with such energy, such synergy and such general camaraderie at the start of a tour must surely pave the way for even greater things to come. The Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Nicola Benedetti kicked off their European tour at Birmingham Town Hall, ahead of performances in Denmark, Switzerland and Germany. Read more... |
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