Classical Reviews
SCO, Leleux, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review – new concerto for a deepening partnershipSaturday, 05 March 2022
You may well have seen a concerto performance that has been “directed from the keyboard”, or maybe even one that’s “led from the violin”, but have you ever seen a concerto that’s directed from the oboe? Read more... |
Fisher, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - war-tinged Vaughan WilliamsMonday, 28 February 2022
There was no overt reference to the world outside in this concert, and yet the poignancy of its content could hardly have been clearer if it had been planned: two symphonies and a song cycle each touched by the tragedy of war. Read more... |
RSNO, Davis, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review – warm Elgar, chilly Vaughan Williams, red hot playingSaturday, 26 February 2022
“You’ll have to forgive me”, said Sir Andrew Davis at the start of this concert’s second half, “but I’m going to sit down.” As he lowered himself onto his podium stool, he let it slip that this was the first concert he had conducted in more than two years. Read more... |
Klieser, Driver, Bournemouth SO Soloists, Lighthouse, Poole review - a celebration of E flatFriday, 25 February 2022
Although the large auditorium of Lighthouse, Poole may not offer the most favourable scale and intimacy for a chamber recital, the high quality of communicative chemistry and performance readily reached out to engage and hold the audience spellbound for the whole evening. |
Rachlin, Oslo PO, Mäkelä, Oslo Konserthus/Perianes, LPO, Berman, RFH review - the best-laid plans…Thursday, 24 February 2022
The headline was never going to be snappy, but “Klaus Mäkelä conducts…” as a start would have pulled it all together. A trip to Oslo last week was not wasted: he did indeed take charge of one of his two main orchestras, in a typically offbeat programme, a total sensation (*****). Read more... |
Kanneh-Mason, LPO, Bloxham, Congress Theatre, Eastbourne review - stark Russian contrastsWednesday, 23 February 2022
With a predictable Sheku sell-out in the hall, the context of post-Eunice clean-up and current teetering on the brink with Russia lent a strangely unsettling and salutary resonance to the programme of Shostakovich’s Second Cello Concerto framed by Mussorgsky and Borodin. Read more... |
Gidon Kremer 75th Birthday Concert, Wigmore Hall review - poignant moments focused on UkraineMonday, 21 February 2022
There are moments when nothing can – or should – stand in the way of the sheer expressive and communicative power of music. Only a few days ago, Gidon Kremer had changed the programme for his 75th birthday concert at Wigmore Hall, to include a short section of pieces by two Ukrainian composers. Read more... |
Kopatchinskaja, Namoradze, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Fischer, RFH review – a Stravinsky feastSaturday, 19 February 2022
It might seem odd to start with the encore, but I’ve never seen one like it. At the end of its two-night residency at the Festival Hall, having just romped through the rigours of The Rite of Spring, the players of the Budapest Festival Orchestra put their instruments down, shuffled to their feet and sang for us. Read more... |
Colli, Bournemouth SO, Scaglione, Lighthouse, Poole review - drama and romanceSaturday, 12 February 2022
The Drama and Romance of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s promotional hook for this concert signalled a heady musical mix. Appropriate for the stark contrasts of mood central to Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4, but potentially less so for Dvorák’s Symphony No. 8 that casts barely a cloud to compromise its predominantly sunny G major disposition shared with the outer movements of the Beethoven. Read more... |
Grosvenor, SCO, Emelyanychev / Osborne, RSNO, Usher Hall, Edinburgh review - two orchestras in pursuit of innovationTuesday, 08 February 2022
Two pianists; two concertos; two orchestras. It is not often that Edinburgh’s most venerable concert hall plays host, on consecutive nights, to two of our national orchestras offering strikingly similar programmes. Read more... |
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