fri 25/07/2025

Classical Reviews

Kolesnikov, BBCSO, Brabbins, Barbican review - rethought masterpiece, stolid rarity

David Nice

Forget the latest International Tchaikovsky Competition winner (I almost have; only a dim memory of Dmitry Masleev's playing the notes in the obligatory First Piano Concerto, and nothing else, remains from an Istanbul performance).

Read more...

Our Classical Century, BBC Four review - enthusiasm and delight

Marina Vaizey

Jerusalem!

Read more...

Thibaudet/Batiashvili/Capuçon Trio, Barbican review – a supergroup to savour

Boyd Tonkin

Even in a large hall, very good things can come in small packages. In advance, partisans of the Wigmore Hall or some other dedicated chamber space might have feared that the Barbican’s main auditorium would turn out to be too chilly a barn for the intimate music-making promised by this supergroup. All-star trios or quartets, made up of soloists more accustomed to the undivided limelight, can frequently add up to less than the sum of their parts.

Read more...

LSO, Roth, Barbican - not enough pathos, but a remarkable step-in

Sebastian Scotney

Missa in Angustiis. Mass in troubled times. There was a logic in programming Haydn’s D minor Mass on the Armistice Centenary day. The final words of the mass, dona nobis pacem, would be the right ones to end this day of reflection.

Read more...

Borodin Quartet, LPO, Jurowski, RFH review - mixed results in oddball Czechfest

David Nice

How many times have you heard live in concert a concerto for string quartet and instrumental ensemble? In my case, three, all of the occasions performances of John Adams's Beethoven-based giant scherzo Absolute Jest.

Read more...

Fialkowska, BBCSO, Nesterowicz, Barbican review – a cliche-free night in Poland

Boyd Tonkin

National feeling – in music, as anywhere else – depends on choice, not blood. This BBC Symphony Orchestra concert at the Barbican to mark the centenary of Poland’s rebirth as a nation never felt remotely like a feast of aural jingoism.

Read more...

Federico Colli, Wigmore Hall review – poised on the edge of the possible

Jessica Duchen

The Italian pianist Federico Colli, 30, best known so far as winner of the 2012 Leeds International Piano Competition, last night arrived for his Wigmore Hall debut sporting an emerald-green cravat, but the sonic colours he magicked out of the piano quickly put its gleam in the shade.

Read more...

Dmitri Ensemble, Ross, St John's Smith Square review - impressive minimalism for strings

Bernard Hughes

The latest instalment of the Americana ’18 series at St John’s Smith Square last Friday saw the Dmitri Ensemble and conductor Graham Ross present a survey of American minimalist music for string ensemble. In a brilliantly conceived programme, the ensemble found fresh energy and propulsion in these classic works, but also a subtlety and humanity in a style that can be mechanistic.

Read more...

Hallé, Elder, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review – pictorial, dramatic power

Robert Beale

Sir Mark Elder’s first concert in the Hallé Thursday series for 2018-19 was on clearly mapped Hallé territory – Richard Strauss and Elgar. They have a reputation, and a tradition, of playing these composers’ music very well.

Read more...

Car, Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Milton Court review - a rattlebag of happy collaborations

David Nice

Presenting the last Mozart symphonies as a three-act opera for orchestra, as Richard Tognetti and his febrile fellow Australians did on Monday, was always going to be a supreme challenge. It worked, as Boyd Tonkin reported here.

Read more...

Pages

latest in today

'We are bowled over!' Thank you for your messages... ...
Album: Mádé Kuti - Chapter 1: Where Does Happiness Come From...

There can be few musicians on the planet from a more storied musical dynasty than Mádé Kuti. He is the son of Femi, the grandson of Fela. He grew...

theartsdesk Q&A: director Athina Rachel Tsangari on her...

Over a decade ago, a handful of Greek filmmakers set out to reinvent the national cinema amid the country's social and economic decline...

The Human League/Marc Almond/Toyah, Brighton Beach review -...

Today gradually blossoms from unpromising beginnings. LouderUK’s On The Beach event series takes place throughout the summer and runs the gamut...

A Moon for the Misbegotten, Almeida Theatre review - Michael...

Michael Shannon's long legs reach to the stars - or perhaps one should say the moon - in the Almeida's hypnotic revival of A Moon for the...

Album: Alice Cooper - The Revenge of Alice Cooper

Great (and not so great) bands reforming, either in the studio or in the live arena, is something of a trend at the moment. However, who would...

Burlesque, Savoy Theatre review - exhaustingly vapid

"It all starts with a snap," or so we're told early in the decidedly un-snappy Burlesque, which spends three hours borrowing shamelessly...

Tosca, Clonter Opera review - beauty and integrity in miniat...

At first sight, it seemed that Clonter Opera’s decision to tackle Tosca this year might be a leap too far. Its once-a-year complete...

Album: Paul Weller - Find El Dorado

Paul Weller occupies a strange place in the cultural sphere. Especially since he was adopted as an elder statesman of Britpop in the mid 1990s, he...

BBC Proms: McCarthy, Bournemouth SO, Wigglesworth review - s...

It started like Sunday afternoon band concert on a seaside promenade, a massive ensemble playing it light. But while there were several too many...