Classical Reviews
Classical CDs Weekly: Nielsen, Kristjan Järvi, Benjamin GrosvenorSaturday, 04 October 2014
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Piau, Les Paladins, Correas, Wigmore HallThursday, 02 October 2014
2014 is the 250th anniversary of the death of Jean-Philippe Rameau, France’s baroque giant and maverick. To say that the UK celebrations have been muted is to put in generously, reconfirming a national trend that has long sidelined this repertoire in favour of more familiar Italian and German contemporaries. So it was especially good to see the Wigmore Hall full for an anniversary concert from instrumental ensemble Les Paladins and soprano Sandrine Piau. Read more... |
Daniil Trifonov, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 01 October 2014
Daniil Trifonov, 23, has shot to prominence as one of the hottest pianistic properties of the moment. With multiple competition wins behind him, including the Tchaikovsky in his native Russia, plus a recording contract with DG and a frenetic globe-trotting schedule, he is now a very busy young man. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Aho, Bartók, ZelenkaSaturday, 27 September 2014
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Grande Messe des Morts, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFHFriday, 26 September 2014
Hector Berlioz knew from early on in life which aspects of death he would want to avoid. He had seen quite enough of the medical textbooks that his father had tried to foist upon him. He had even got as far as smelling the dissecting table as a medical student in Paris, desperately counting the days before he could make his escape into music. Read more... |
Bavouzet, LPO, Jurowski, Royal Festival HallThursday, 25 September 2014
Comparisons, even on paper, between two season openers from London orchestras could hardly have been more instructive. Read more... |
BBC Singers, BBCSO, Litton, Barbican HallThursday, 25 September 2014
The problem with programming Charles Ives’s Fourth Symphony - and only the very bold and resourceful and/or the BBC are ever likely to do so - is that it eclipses everything, and I mean everything, in its proximity. Read more... |
Benedetti, Manchester Camerata, Takács-Nagy, Bridgewater Hall, ManchesterSunday, 21 September 2014
Having been put to the fiddle at the age of five, Nicola Benedetti appreciates the value of making music at an early age. She is fiercely committed to music education and developing new talent. So it was a joy to see her playing enthusiastically with 30 primary school children as a pre-concert curtain raiser to the start of Manchester Camerata’s new season. Read more... |
Last Night of the Proms, Jansen, Williams, BBCSO, OramoSunday, 14 September 2014
If only the Last Night of the Proms could just be about the music. If it were, then the story which I would want to tell would be about Janine Jansen. A crowd which mainly turns up to wave its vast array of flags, to bounce its beach-balls and generally to step free from the shackles of adulthood, was mesmerised into a concentrated hush by the magnetism of the Dutch violinist. She drew the huge audience right in to her playing. Read more... |
Prom 75: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, GilbertSaturday, 13 September 2014
The silliness of the Last Night is really just a postscript to the penultimate night of the Proms, traditionally given over to a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. It was a tradition restored yesterday evening when Alan Gilbert and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra returned for their second concert of the season. For anyone whose stomach is liable to turn at extrovert jingoism and excess, this was the perfect antidote. Read more... |
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