Haydn
The Creation, Choirs of King's College & New College Oxford, Philharmonia, Hyde, King's College Chapel, Cambridge - sublime setting for mundane performanceMonday, 06 November 2023
“Let his words resound on high,” sings the choir in the final chorus of The Creation. In King’s College Chapel in Cambridge, it is hard not to want to look up, to admire the splendour of the largest fan vaulting anywhere in Europe. King’s truly is... 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... |
Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Wigmore Hall review - virtuoso brilliance and thoughtfulness reveal Haydn's rangeTuesday, 21 February 2023
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet mischievously described interpreting Haydn’s piano sonatas as “putting clothes on a rather naked skeleton… You have this joy of bringing it to life with all the tools you can... Read more... |
Faust, English Baroque Soloists, Gardiner, St Martin-in-the-Fields review – gusto and graceMonday, 25 April 2022
More than half a century has passed since John Eliot Gardiner’s choir and orchestras first won their historically-informed licence to thrill. A feverish Saturday night at St Martin-in-the-Fields proved that Gardiner and the English Baroque Soloists... Read more... |
Takács Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - intimate letters and holy songsTuesday, 09 November 2021
The Takács Quartet is hard to pin down. The group was founded in 1975 in Budapest, but since 1983 has been based in Boulder, Colorado. Cellist András Fejér is the only remaining founding member, and the violist, Richard O’Neill, only joined in 2020... Read more... |
Dennis, SCO, Whelan, Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh review - period touches and classical sparkleSaturday, 30 October 2021
Peter Whelan is best known to Scottish audiences from his years of service as principal bassoon in the Scottish Chamber Orchestra. He left to pursue other projects several years ago, the most illustrious of which has probably been his work with the... Read more... |
The Creation, Academy of Ancient Music, Cummings, Barbican review - back to choral paradiseThursday, 30 September 2021
Whatever the upsets and uncertainties of this musical season, the return of choral works at full scale and full power has been an unalloyed joy. And sheer, exhilarated, heaven-storming joy branded the Academy of Ancient Music’s reading of Haydn’s... Read more... |
Carducci Quartet, Wigmore Hall review - complexity and depthMonday, 12 July 2021
This programme was a bit of a calling card from the Carducci Quartet. They have previously recorded all three works, and the three composers, Haydn, Shostakovich, Beethoven, clearly play to their strengths. Add to that a modest running time, the... Read more... |
Royal Northern Sinfonia, Sage Gateshead online review – a grab bag of players’ favouritesSaturday, 15 May 2021
The Royal Northern Sinfonia handed its players artistic control of the programme for this livestream from the Sage, Gateshead and if the result lacked coherence it certainly had the variety and diversity missing from the Wigmore Hall Nash Ensemble... Read more... |
Castalian Quartet, Stoller Hall, Manchester online review - mercurial playing fits a varied programmeFriday, 09 April 2021
The Polyphonic Concert Club is a collective of musicians – including Isata Kanneh-Mason and I Fagiolini – offering recorded chamber recitals released weekly through March and April. Like the festivals of Voces8 (I reviewed their Christmas series)... Read more... |
Two LSO concerts on Marquee TV review - vibrant triptychesFriday, 05 March 2021
In amongst the heavy-hearted duty of supporting orchestras by watching their concert streamings – not something I’d do by choice – there are two real joys here. One is the discovery of Austrian composer Franz Schreker’s Chamber Symphony of 1916. The... Read more... |
Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Emelyanychev online review – versatile virtuosity from EdinburghMonday, 08 February 2021
Seated at the harpsichord, Maxim Emelyanychev introduces this concert in charmingly fractured English. “Hello from Queen’s Hall in Edimbourg, today with chamber group of musicians from Scottish Chamber Orchestra…” But he falters, the camera cuts... Read more... |
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