Barbican
Quartet West, BarbicanSunday, 22 May 2011
The first night of this weekend residency by the renowned bassist, composer and band-leader Charlie Haden celebrated the 25th anniversary of Quartet West and their new Emarcy release, Sophisticated Ladies. A winning mix of tender balladeering and... Read more... |
The School for Scandal, Barbican TheatreSaturday, 21 May 2011
"There’s no possibility of being witty without a little ill-nature,” preaches the Gospel according to Richard Brinsley Sheridan. What the playwright omits to mention, however, is that it is possible to be ill-natured without in fact being terribly... Read more... |
The Bartered Bride, BBCSO, Bělohlávek, Barbican HallSaturday, 21 May 2011
What a relief, for half of last night's semi-staged concert performance, to have left behind Britten's claustrophobic wood at English National Opera and to seek refuge in Smetana's Bohemian village inn of good cheer. Czech music's national comic... Read more... |
Total Football, BarbicanThursday, 19 May 2011
Which came first? The low national self-esteem or the shit national football team? Is it possible, in the interests of blending in with one’s countrymen, to stimulate in oneself a love of the beautiful game? And can Britishness be boiled down to... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Debussy, Grainger, LullySaturday, 14 May 2011
This week we review Bellérophon, a rare Baroque opera from Lully which was exhumed by Christophe Rousset and performed for the first time last year, Debussy recorded live from the Barbican, and we answer the key question: how much is too much Percy... Read more... |
Reverberations: The Influence of Steve Reich, BarbicanMonday, 09 May 2011
Sometimes you can leave a concert feeling slightly shortchanged: a perceived weakness in the programming; an unprepared, lacklustre conductor; a phoned-in performance. No danger of any of the above at the marathon session three of Reverberations, a... Read more... |
Ron Sexsmith/ Jim White, BarbicanSunday, 01 May 2011
Two cult singers on the same bill. A stirring prospect in itself, but last night they were both also at watersheds in their careers. The headliner, Ron Sexsmith, was looking to cultivate a more mainstream audience. He’s had his moments over the... Read more... |
London Schools Symphony Orchestra, Segerstam, Barbican HallThursday, 28 April 2011
With regional youth orchestras dropping from a thousand short-sighted, wholesale cuts - flagship Leicestershire the latest under threat - it should be enough just to celebrate 60 seasons of the LSSO, safe for now under the City of London's... Read more... |
Pelléas et Mélisande, Barbican HallTuesday, 19 April 2011
"Ne me touchez pas! Ne me touchez pas!" Mélisande's jittery first words could be the motto for the whole of Pelléas et Mélisande. How to touch, what to touch, when to and when not to touch, more specifically, how to mark without bruising,... Read more... |
Unsuk Chin Day, BarbicanMonday, 11 April 2011
Some of the most exciting Western classical music being composed today comes from the Far East. Composers from Japan and South Korea - possibly because they find themselves in a different intellectual cycle to us in the West - seem to be able to do... Read more... |
Esperanza Spalding, BarbicanSaturday, 09 April 2011
The last time I saw Esperanza Spalding live, at Ronnie Scott's towards the end of 2009, the mention of her name would largely have been greeted with quizzical looks. Now, thanks to that astounding Grammy win for Best New Artist and a gazillion... Read more... |
The Tempest, Cheek By Jowl, Barbican TheatreSaturday, 09 April 2011
Tradition, in the form of Victorian performance, conferred on The Tempest the VC of Highest Shakespearean Poetry, though it probably wasn't Shakespeare's final play. John Gielgud was in an important sense the last great Victorian English thesp and,... Read more... |
