Dvořák
Classical CDs: Musical saws, keyed fiddles and kestrelsSaturday, 14 January 2023
Dvořák: Symphonies 1-9, Legends, Slavonic Dances Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/José Serebrier (Warner Classics)The advantage of having all the Dvořák symphonies in one handy box is that you can explore the works that rarely get an airing;... Read more... |
Leif Ove Andsnes, Wigmore Hall review - brooding richness and fiery fervourTuesday, 22 November 2022
Leif Ove Andsnes has a distinctive voice at the piano; clear, controlled and powerful. He sits upright; his body barely moves, and his head sways gently to the melodies. But he never loses himself in the music, he is always in control.Andsnes is a... Read more... |
theartsdesk at Wexford Festival Opera - the bad, the good and the gloriousWednesday, 26 October 2022
Festival punters who eagerly return to this pleasant haven in south-east Ireland are happy to take a risk on the three rare operas served up each year. As a Wexford virgin, I knew I wanted to come here this autumn for Dvořák’s last opera Armida,... Read more... |
Stagg, Australian World Orchestra, Mehta, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - Antipodeans with a global soundMonday, 22 August 2022
The Edinburgh International Festival is playing its part in the UK/Australia Season 2021-22 (no, me neither) by hosting this concert from the Australian World Orchestra. It’s comprised of Australian musicians who play in orchestras across Europe and... Read more... |
Rusalka, Edinburgh International Festival 2022 review - sumptuous rendition of a watery fableThursday, 11 August 2022
The last-minute indisposition of your leading lady is enough to give festival directors palpitations, let alone their audiences, now forewarned by the dreaded email thudding into inboxes. And so it was that Andrew Moore, Head of Music at the... 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... |
Wigmore Soloists, Wigmore Hall review - superb JanáčekWednesday, 25 May 2022
Wigmore Soloists is such a good idea, and still at an early stage of its development. The group brings together top players to perform the wider chamber music repertoire, normally septets and upwards. The hall also gives the players a place they can... 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... |
CBSO Chorus, Czech Philharmonic, Bychkov, Barbican review - a mass of lifeThursday, 17 March 2022
One of the world’s top five orchestras – sorry, but I locate them all in continental Europe – played on the second night of its London visit to a half-empty Barbican Hall. Half-full, rather, attentive and ecstatic. As for the much-criticised venue,... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Pealing bells, abandoned ballrooms and abrasive brassSaturday, 19 February 2022
Americascapes – music by Loeffler, Ruggles, Hanson and Cowell Basque National Orchestra/Robert Trevino (Ondine)This is great: a compilation of lesser-known American orchestral music played with panache by a Spanish orchestra teamed with an... 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,... Read more... |
Sheku Kanneh-Mason, RLPO, Hindoyan, BBC Proms review - wood magic and swashbuckling show-offsMonday, 06 September 2021
After 14 years as principal conductor, Vasily Petrenko has left the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in top-league shape. The players must be as thrilled as we are that his successor, Venezuelan Armenian Domingo Hindoyan, carries the flame,... Read more... |
