Bruckner
Prom 65: Bruckner's Eighth, BBCSO, Bychkov review - a friendly giantTuesday, 05 September 2023
Bruckner's behemoth has always had its fervent champions – and its muttering sceptics. The 85-odd minutes of his Eighth Symphony, finally performed after major revisions in 1892, build into a titanic testament. Advocates read into it enough... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Penitence, pipe smoking and soot spritesSaturday, 05 August 2023
Otto Klemperer: The Warner Classics Remastered Edition (Warner Classics)The young Otto Klemperer’s conducting career was encouraged by no less than Gustav Mahler, Klemperer’s meteoric rise leading him to become director of Berlin’s Kroll Opera... Read more... |
Prom 5, Power, BBC Philharmonic, Mena review - detail and breadthTuesday, 19 July 2022
I had anticipated a sweltering evening at the Albert Hall. Sadly, though, the heatwave prevented me from even getting there – buckled rails or some similar problem led to the cancellation of my train. So this review is of the Radio 3 broadcast,... Read more... |
Classical CDs: mediation, survival and the conquering of shynessSaturday, 11 June 2022
Karel Ančerl: Live Recordings (Supraphon)Karel Ančerl’s nascent conducting career was interrupted by World War II, Ančerl and his family being sent to the Theresienstadt camp in 1942. Two years later, he and his family were sent to Auschwitz.... Read more... |
theartsdesk at the Dresden Music Festival - orchestral abundance in a spectacular settingWednesday, 25 May 2022
Dresden is filled with music at this time of year. The Dresden Music Festival runs through May and early June, with concerts at all the famous venues – the Frauenkirche, the Semperoper – but also recitals in smaller halls and unlikely settings.My... Read more... |
LSO, Rattle, Barbican review - a glimpse into Bruckner’s workshopMonday, 20 September 2021
For most Bruckner fans, the multiple editions and revisions of his symphonies are a problem. But Simon Rattle sees it differently; for him every edition offers more music to explore. That was the thinking behind this programme, presenting the Fourth... Read more... |
Bernard Haitink: The Enigmatic Maestro, BBC Two review - saying goodbye with BrucknerSunday, 27 September 2020
Before his retirement last summer at the age of 90, Bernard Haitink worked magic on the podium, no one is in any doubt about that. Lining up one friend and musician after another to admit they don’t know how he does it hardly seems the most... Read more... |
Classical Vinyl Weekly: Bruckner, SmetanaSaturday, 05 September 2020
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7 Berliner Philharmoniker/Bernard Haitink (Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings)Bruckner symphonies rarely include fast tempi and never feature Stravinskian changes of metre, but they do need conductors with enough stamina... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bruckner, Elgar, ProkofievSaturday, 01 August 2020
Bruckner: Symphony No. 8 Australian World Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle (ABC Classics)I love Bruckner’s mature symphonies, but they still baffle me. Mostly in terms of how certain performances work, or don’t work, and the near-impossibility of... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Bruckner, Holst, PiazzollaSaturday, 16 May 2020
Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra/Manfred Honeck (Reference Recordings)I’m midway through exploring a cycle of symphonies by Heinz Winbeck, a German contemporary composer very much in the Bruckner tradition. I’ll report... Read more... |
Anderszewski, CBSO, Wellber, Symphony Hall Birmingham review - grandeur in restraintWednesday, 11 March 2020
No orchestra wants its conductor to cancel in the week of a concert. Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla’s illness was announced only on Monday, but even in ideal conditions, if you needed to find a last minute replacement maestro for a programme of Bartók and... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Beethoven, Bruckner, Notice RecordingsSaturday, 22 February 2020
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas 1-32 Igor Levit (Sony)“Beethoven paid no attention at all to the conventions of his own time In fact, he only ever wrote music for the future.” One strength of Igor Levit’s magnificent traversal of Beethoven’s piano... Read more... |
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