Debussy
Stephen Hough, RFHWednesday, 29 April 2015
It took just two bars of Debussy's La plus que lente for Stephen Hough to transport the entire Royal Festival Hall to Paris. The nearest thing the French composer ever wrote to a café waltz – inspired by a gypsy band in a local hotel – this... Read more... |
DiDonato, Heggie, Brentano Quartet, Milton CourtWednesday, 15 April 2015
“I need to get a new gimmick.” Joyce DiDonato hobbled her way onto Milton Court’s stage last night, warning her audience to expect a seated performance owing to a sprained ankle. It was just six years ago she famously broke her leg during a... Read more... |
Pelléas et Mélisande, Philharmonia, Salonen, RFHFriday, 28 November 2014
In an operatic world in which the director is an increasingly despotic king, it’s good to be reminded that, sometimes, not staging an opera is the most radical reading of all. No elaborate set or concept dominated David Edwards’s one-off Pelléas et... Read more... |
Samuelsen Duo, RLPO, Petrenko, Philharmonic Hall, LiverpoolSunday, 16 November 2014
Major change is afoot at the Liverpool Philharmonic. The new season has just opened as Philharmonic Hall has been undergoing a major refurbishment and earlier concerts during the autumn were held in the gargantuan acoustics of both cathedrals, where... Read more... |
Uchida, LSO, Haitink, Barbican HallFriday, 31 October 2014
You know what to expect from a standard programme of masterpieces like this, led by two great performers in careful control of their repertoire, and those expectations are never going to be disappointed. You’re not going to hear the kind of new-... Read more... |
Daniil Trifonov, Royal Festival HallWednesday, 01 October 2014
Daniil Trifonov, 23, has shot to prominence as one of the hottest pianistic properties of the moment. With multiple competition wins behind him, including the Tchaikovsky in his native Russia, plus a recording contract with DG and a frenetic globe-... Read more... |
Edinburgh International Festival Opening Concert, RSNO, Knussen, Usher HallSaturday, 09 August 2014
On paper this was an interesting programme. The Edinburgh Festival traditionally opens with a major choral work, but while the international audience would probably be happy with endlessly recycled requiems and masses, festival directors have often... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Grundman, Messiaen, Aki KurodaSaturday, 09 August 2014
Jorge Grundman: A Mortuis Resurgere Susana Cordón (soprano), Brodsky Quartet (Chandos)Spanish composer Jorge Grundman was a vocalist and keyboard player in two bands in his teens, and he’s now a professor of audio engineering at a Madrid... Read more... |
The Fall of the House of Usher, Welsh National OperaSaturday, 21 June 2014
The Fall of the House of Usher is one of Edgar Allan Poe’s mistier tales, and although it has been turned into opera a few times, there are obvious difficulties. Debussy struggled for a decade to materialise a drama out of its haunting, neurotic... Read more... |
Pascal and Ami Rogé, Howard Assembly Room, Leeds Grand TheatreFriday, 11 April 2014
For record collectors of a certain age, Pascal Rogé is Mr French Piano Music; if you’re looking for decent recordings of Ravel, Poulenc, Saint-Saëns and Debussy, he’s the man. Hearing him perform live, here with his wife and duet partner Ami Rogé,... Read more... |
Cabell, BBC Concert Orchestra, Lockhart, QEHTuesday, 01 April 2014
Where did all the terrific programming energy of last year’s The Rest is Noise festival go? One answer – surprising given the orchestra’s former Friday night lite status – is into a two-concert adventure by the BBCCO. World to Come, World Once Known... Read more... |
RainFriday, 04 October 2013
"The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance," wrote Aristotle. And you know what, the old Greek geezer knew a thing or two. While this downbeat stealth/platform game delivers a pure aesthetic... Read more... |
