Classical Reviews
Prom 56: Thibaudet, Gustav Mahler Jungendorchester, JordanSunday, 25 August 2013
The visits of the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester are a regular Proms highlight, only preceded (for me) by the John Wilson Orchestra in the speed with which they go from announcement to diary. Last year’s concert under Gatti was a whirling celebration of dance – a beautifully programmed narrative that spun us from Wagner to Ravel and left us breathless. The year before Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov brought us passions from East and West, united by the precision of Sir Colin Davis. Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Rachmaninov, Terje Rypdal, Valentina Montoya MartínezSaturday, 24 August 2013
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Prom 53: Antonacci, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Nézet-SéguinFriday, 23 August 2013
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Prom 52: Batiashvili, BBC Symphony Orchestra, OramoThursday, 22 August 2013
Concert programmes are designed to make the mind flexible with constant contrasts. More often, though, the great is the enemy of the good-ish. Last night an Elgar masterpiece was always going to overshadow its second-half predecessor, a hazily pleasant piece for strings and – novelty value – six harps by the colleague Elgar called “dear old Gran”, candidate for this Proms season's resuscitation attempt Granville Bantock. Read more... |
Prom 51: Bostridge, London Symphony Orchestra, HardingWednesday, 21 August 2013
There have already been many musical tributes to Sir Colin Davis, whose death in April left us all so much the poorer, but last night’s from the London Symphony Orchestra was particularly and wonderfully poignant. Davis himself was originally scheduled to conduct the London Symphony Orchestra – an ensemble whose relationship with him extended back over 50 years – but was replaced, fittingly, by his protégé Daniel Harding. Read more... |
Prom 50: BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, VolkovTuesday, 20 August 2013
Standing in the Albert Hall arena, critics’ notepad in hand, I felt rather like PC Plod taking notes at a crime scene. Only there was no serious crime to report in this engaging late-night Prom by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and its former Principal Conductor, Ilan Volkov – the ideal man to conduct music that isn’t by Brahms or Schubert. Read more... |
Prom 47: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, AlsopMonday, 19 August 2013
In a couple of weeks Marin Alsop will become the first woman ever to conduct the Last Night of the Proms. Yesterday's programme of 19th century works by Brahms and Schumann, on the fifth of the eight Saturday nights of the season, thus had its Proms-specific raison d'etre, a signpost towards that history-making final Saturday. Just as the last night's high jinks have their own, ordered traditions, the Proms planners definitely enjoy giving a self-referential logic to the season. Read more... |
Prom 45: The Midsummer Marriage, BBC Symphony Orchestra, DavisSaturday, 17 August 2013
Jeremy Paxman’s beard may have been a wonder and a talking point for five days, but Michael Tippett’s opera The Midsummer Marriage beats it by almost 60 years. Ecstatic, visionary, energetic music, yes indeed. But, oh, the composer’s libretto! The Magic Flute, T. S. Read more... |
Prom 39: Khan, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, AthertonTuesday, 13 August 2013
The fascination of the East has been a constant in classical music’s history, from the jangling sounds of the Janissary bands to Mozart’s Seraglio, Sheherazade’s dreamy tales to Britten’s seductive gamelan. Last night’s Prom gave the East a chance to answer back, setting Nishat Khan’s new Sitar Concerto in dialogue with Vaughan Williams’s London Symphony – a musical portrait of a landscape rather closer to home. Read more... |
Prom 38: Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, National Youth Orchestra, National Youth Choirs, PetrenkoMonday, 12 August 2013
It makes a lot of sense for the National Youth Orchestra to give the first ever free Prom. Both, one assumes, economically but also in terms of ethos and atmosphere. New and tentative concert goers would have had very little cause to be intimidated by the fresh faces on the Albert Hall stage last night. That’s thing about youthful energy – you can’t fake it. The same goes for musical quality, or course, and thankfully the NYO has bags of that too. Read more... |
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