Haydn
Classical CDs Weekly: Elgar, Haydn, Ligeti, Smaro GregoriadouSaturday, 16 July 2016
Elgar orch. Donald Fraser: Piano Quintet, Sea Pictures English Symphony Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Rodolfus Choir/Kenneth Woods (Avie)Donald Fraser's orchestration of Elgar's expansive Piano Quintet was prompted by a 1918 entry in Lady... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Mozart, Vivancos, Rufus WainwrightSaturday, 21 May 2016
Mozart: Serenade in B flat major, 'Gran Partita', Royal Academy of Music Soloists Ensemble/Trevor Pinnock (Linn)Mozart's Gran Partita is a multi-movement work longer than many romantic symphonies, hardly what we'd expect from a serenade. It's... Read more... |
Van de Wiel, Philharmonia, Järvi, RFHFriday, 20 May 2016
“Choleric humour, pathos and kindliness are mingled in conflict," wrote Robert Simpson of Nielsen’s 1928 Clarinet Concerto. The work was written for a player with a complex character, full of contradictions. Last night’s soloist, Mark van de Wiel,... Read more... |
Benedetti, CBSO, Shani, Saffron Hall, Saffron WaldenMonday, 01 February 2016
With Andris Nelsons now moved to pastures new, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is without a chief conductor, so for this performance in Saffron Walden (repeating a programme given in Birmingham) it worked with a guest at the podium, the... Read more... |
Alder, Hulett, Classical Opera, Page, Wigmore HallWednesday, 20 January 2016
Unlike Schubert, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich, Mozart composed nothing astoundingly individual before the age of 20. That leaves any odyssey through his oeuvre, year by year – this one will finish in 2041, by which time I’ll be nearly 80 if I live... Read more... |
Watkins, BBCSO, Bychkov, BarbicanWednesday, 13 January 2016
We don’t often hear Semyon Bychkov in the core Austro-German repertoire. That’s a great shame, because the qualities that make his Russian music performances so special are just as valuable here: the dynamism and immediacy, the supple but propulsive... Read more... |
Coles, Philharmonia, Järvi, RFHFriday, 20 November 2015
Great Estonian Neeme Järvi’s two conducting sons have had varying success in London this week. Kristjan did what he could with a dog’s dinner of a Britten Sinfonia programme on Wednesday night, while older brother Paavo presumably chose the three... Read more... |
Gerhaher, Huber, Wigmore HallMonday, 09 November 2015
Christian Gerhaher is a classy recitalist. His stage manner is debonair, his tailoring immaculate (although his hair can be unruly). His artistry focuses on key vocal virtues: directness of expression and beauty of tone. In this evening’s recital,... Read more... |
RLPO, Koopman, Philharmonic Hall LiverpoolSunday, 08 November 2015
It was rather like a trip home to see long-lost relatives. Ton Koopman took to the stage at the Liverpool Philharmonic with a broad smile. That smile both greeted the audience and, from what the audience could see, told the orchestra that they were... Read more... |
Classical CDs Weekly: Haydn, Mahler, SchubertSaturday, 26 September 2015
Haydn: Symphonies 31, 70 and 101 Scottish Chamber Orchestra/Robin Ticciati (Linn)Josef Haydn recalled his three decades spent working for the Esterházy court in the following terms: “I was cut off from the world, there was no one near me to... Read more... |
Prom 51: Boston SO, NelsonsMonday, 24 August 2015
Andris Nelsons and the Boston Symphony Orchestra have made the Shostakovich Tenth their calling card. Their recent recording of the work on Deutsche Grammophon has received universal acclaim, and now they're making their first European tour together... Read more... |
The Creation, SCO, Christophers, Usher Hall, EdinburghSunday, 17 May 2015
For the Scottish Chamber Orchestra the transition from its home in the Queen’s Hall to the much larger spaces of Usher Hall is not always a happy one. Earlier this season an experimental performance of Mahler’s fourth symphony lacked heft in the... Read more... |
