classical music reviews, news & interviews
David Nice |
Was it a risk to attend a third Irish Baroque Orchestra Matthew Passion in as many years, given that previous indelible interpretations had come from Helen Charlston, Hugh Cutting and Nick Pritchard? Not really, because the shaping hand of Peter Whelan, musicianship incarnate, was bound to give us the connected dramatic arc in Bach's greatest of masterpieces as usual.
graham.rickson |
Brahms: Trio Op. 114, Robert & Clara Schumann: Romances. Joachim: Hebrew Melodies Tabea Zimmermann (viola), Javier Perianes (piano) Jean-Guihen Queyras (cello) (Harmonia Mundi)
David Nice
Nowhere welcomes Ukrainians (and Palestinians too, for that matter) more warmly than Ireland, and especially Dublin. A standing ovation twice over…
Robert Beale
This was a concert of music by living women composers, and I guess you could call all three of its components protest music. Cheerful or sad, smart…
Robert Beale
The members of the National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine, on an intensive tour of the UK and Ireland which sees them right now performing daily…
Subscribe to theartsdesk.com
Thank you for continuing to read our work on theartsdesk.com. For unlimited access to every article in its entirety, including our archive of more than 15,000 pieces, we're asking for £5 per month or £40 per year. We feel it's a very good deal, and hope you do too.
To take a subscription now simply click here.
And if you're looking for that extra gift for a friend or family member, why not treat them to a theartsdesk.com gift subscription?
Simon Thompson
Star power sells a concert of recently written music
Boyd Tonkin
A lavish double serving of full-flavoured masterworks
Robert Beale
Hidden gems by 20th century composers revealed
Bernard Hughes
Enticing programme is given a suitably colourful performance
graham.rickson
A great soprano live in concert, new sounds from Iceland and chamber music for strings
David Nice
The great pianist takes us on a Shakespearean journey, from Ariel and Prospero to Lear
Boyd Tonkin
The great Gospel tragedy rendered bright, swift and fierce
Rachel Halliburton
Irish fiddler sets ego aside and completely surrenders to the music
Simon Thompson
Glitzy Rachmaninov and a glittering Zemlinsky ‘Mermaid’
Simon Thompson
A great conductor returns in triumph to crown an orchestra’s anniversary celebrations
Boyd Tonkin
A master pianist dives deep into the farewell moods of Brahms and Beethoven
stephen.walsh
Big sounds needing more space but no better playing
graham.rickson
Neglected 20th century symphonies, a rediscovered violin concerto and colourful contemporary music
Rachel Halliburton
Style, sophistication and philosophical elegance
Boyd Tonkin
Styles harmonise in music of memory and mourning
Robert Beale
A haunting encounter with Cassandra Miller’s Viola Concerto
Bernard Hughes
Long-time collaborators offer great singing but some wobbly playing
Boyd Tonkin
Handel's Biblical tragedy strikes hard without stage trickery
stephen.walsh
Moving tribute to a great centenarian
graham.rickson
Scandinavian symphonies, 20th century ballet music and a versatile conductor celebrated in box form
Robert Beale
A uniquely baritonal, masculine cello sound in Shostakovich
Bernard Hughes
Bayard Rustin-inspired programme has excellent music but a bit too much chat
David Nice
Perfect programme for two pianos and four hands at one
David Nice
Savage parade includes wonderfully discombobulating Martinů concerto
inside classical music
the future of arts journalism
You can stop theartsdesk.com closing!
We urgently need financing to survive. Our fundraising drive has thus far raised £33,000 but we need to reach £100,000 or we will be forced to close. Please contribute here: https://gofund.me/c3f6033d
And if you can forward this information to anyone who might assist, we’d be grateful.
latest in today
We are bowled over! We knew that theartsdesk.com had plenty of supporters out there – we’ve always had a loyal readership of arts…
It’s hard to describe this hot mess of a film without divulging the entire plot. And even if you did, you’d struggle to convey the scabrous…
Immaturity is a virtue in Kirill Sokolov’s action-horror-comedy, a slapstick class satire set in an exclusive New York apartment block…
After Barber Shop Chronicles comes a female slice of pan-African life, set in Harlem in July 2019, at the fag end of Donald J Trump’s first…
Stagefront are two silhouetted figures, heads at a strange angle. Like hanged men. Beside each is a robed demon sentinel with a burning…
In its heyday, Rodney Ackland’s 1935 play The Old Ladies, adapted from a 1924 novel by Hugh Walpole, was a favourite with doyennes of the…
The Kurdish singer Aynur opened her current European tour in Bristol, presenting music that's rooted in ancient tradition but explores…
José González is one of those musicians who is well known without many recognising it. Until that is, someone plays his most known track “…
Blackpool Cool is the third and last album by Glasgow’s Head. Issued in 1977 on the band’s own Head Records label, it was preceded by 1973’…
The vertigo of lawlessness in Stalin’s Russia carries contemporary resonance in Sergei Loznitsa’s latest Soviet parable. As a Russian…
Most read
The Mikhailovsky Ballet closed their epic two-week Coliseum season with modern works by their director, Nacho Duato, presumably hoping to…
It’s disquieting, as a bloke, to hear 2000 female voices singing about the sexual frustration caused by premature ejaculation. A noisy…
For the past almost two years, Maggie Rogers has taken an unexpectedly special place in my heart and musical tastes. Upon reviewing her…
Prolific writer Mike Bartlett is the most impressive penman to have emerged in British theatre in the past decade. The trouble is that his…
Playwright David Hare is on a West End roll. Not only is his new play, Grace Pervades, about super thespians Henry Irving and Ellen Terry,…
The Ealing-like comedy heist caper Two to One is Natja Brunckhorst’s second feature as a director, after the 2002 short film La Mer, but…
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) revived Thirties adventure serials’ simple thrills, a George Lucas notion adrenalised by Spielberg. Its hero…
When the joyful energy at the final curtain - love briefly triumphant in the power-dominated world of Wagner's Ring - is as insanely high…
The Philharmonia’s current season, Let Freedom Ring, celebrates American music through some notably interesting programming. And although…
My, what an entrance Jack Whitehall makes on the last night of his first arena tour. The 25-year-old - not that long ago making his…