Strauss
Frang, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Jurowski, Barbican review - on the summitTuesday, 19 September 2023
These days British orchestras count themselves lucky if they can see, and plan, five years ahead. In Bavaria they do things rather differently. As the ducal court ensemble, and later the house band of the Munich opera, the Bayerisches... Read more... |
First Person: the Bayerisches Staatsorchester's Managing Director Guido Gärtner on its 500th anniversaryTuesday, 19 September 2023
Nine cities in seven countries; all in all, eleven concerts, on top of that, an appearance at home in Munich. Celebrating its 500th anniversary, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester is currently on an extended journey. We have been looking forward with... Read more... |
Classical CDs: Tambourines, multiphonics and hot chocolateSaturday, 02 September 2023
Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos 1-4, Paganini Rhapsody Lukáš Vondráček, Prague Symphony Orchestra/Tomáš Brauner (Supraphon)Yuja Wang, Los Angeles Philharmonic/Gustavo Dudamel (DG)Yet more Rachmaninov, but I’m not complaining, and comparing... Read more... |
Prom 28: Rangwanasha, National Youth Orchestra, Prieto review - playing, and singing, with a swingSunday, 06 August 2023
Programming works from the same decade – in this case the 1940s – can reveal fascinating contrasts: what an impressive gulf, for instance, between two masterpieces by Hindemith and Strauss in this first half, and what sensitivity to very different... Read more... |
Ariadne auf Naxos, Garsington Opera review - golden thread leads to deep emotionSunday, 25 June 2023
When tears well up during stretches of Strauss and Hofmannsthal’s curious hybrid which you never expected to move you, something special's going on. The magic happened last night in an evening which I didn't anticipate equalling “the Carmelites... Read more... |
Chiejina, BBC Philharmonic, Collon, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - something scenic, and something elseMonday, 03 April 2023
An evening of “scenic orchestral works”, according to the programme booklet, was on offer from the BBC Philharmonic on Saturday. Scenic was certainly true of the Seven Early Songs of Alban Berg and Richard Strauss’s Alpine Symphony. But Tom Coult’s... Read more... |
Der Rosenkavalier, Irish National Opera review - world-class delightMonday, 06 March 2023
Silver rose, golden voices. Richard Strauss calls for four of the best: two sopranos and a mezzo for the love-triangle that develops between a 17-year-old Count, his 32-year-old lover and the girl he falls for at first sight; a bass as one of opera’... Read more... |
LSO, Pappano, Barbican review - exhilarating, hilarious mock-heroicsMonday, 13 February 2023
So it turns out there isn’t a problem with Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben (A Hero’s Life), a stroppy mock-epic I thought couldn’t ever love again, when constantly singing phrases from Antonio Pappano and the LSO turn it into an hallucinogenic... Read more... |
Philharmonia, Hrůša, RFH review - total brilliance in Bartók, Dvořák and StraussFriday, 03 February 2023
Salome was not to get her head on a silver platter: Jennifer Davis, due to sing the bloody final scene of Strauss’s opera, had been experiencing abdominal pains during her first pregnancy – mother and child are fine – and had to withdraw at a late... Read more... |
National Youth Orchestra, Bloch, Barbican review - blazing and surging odysseysThursday, 05 January 2023
In precarious times, musical wonders never seem to cease – for now, at least. Who would have thought during lockdown that we’d be back so soon and so frequently to the kind of massive orchestra needed to play a cosmic blockbuster like Richard... Read more... |
Die Fledermaus, RNCM, Manchester review - a champagne cork-popping celebrationWednesday, 14 December 2022
The Royal Northern College of Music is in the mood for celebration. Its 50 years of existence warrants popping the champagne corks big-time, so for its end-of-year operatic production Die Fledermaus is just what the doctor ordered.But this ain’t no... Read more... |
Kolesnikov, Hallé, Elder, Manchester review - commanding Smetana, Rachmaninov and StraussFriday, 07 October 2022
As Sir Mark Elder begins his penultimate season as music director of the Hallé, it’s clear that his command of, and communication with, the orchestra are as complete and purpose-driven as ever. It’s the first Thursday series concert of the new... Read more... |
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