London Philharmonic/Edward Gardner, with Steven Osborne
Edward Gardner’s ongoing Elgar Symphony cycle at the Royal Festival Hall was never intended to include the sketches for the Third Symphony as elaborated by
January 25, 2023
The New London Opera Group – Vaughan Williams’s Hugh the Drover
New London Opera Group’s presentation of Vaughan Williams’s Hugh the Drover is a welcome and presumably late tribute to the composer in his 150th-anniversary year in 2022.
January 19, 2023
Cleveland Orchestra at Carnegie Hall – Franz Welser-Möst conducts Berg & Schubert
Franz Welser-Möst conducted the two movements of Schubert’s ‘Unfinished’ Symphony in seamless alternation with three from Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite, an attempt to show how
January 18, 2023
Eric Lu at Queen Elizabeth Hall
Eric Lu doesn’t give much away in his performance style, which is formal and a bit stern, from a serious young man who would not
January 15, 2023
Wigmore Hall – Schubert’s Die schöne Müllerin with Simon Bode and Igor Levit
If, in some sense, Schubert’s three song-cycles can be taken as a trilogy (even if not intended as such when composed) then the first, Die schöne Müllerin (1823)
January 13, 2023
New York Philharmonic – Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducts Catamorphosis & The Rite of Spring; Nemanja Radulović plays Prokofiev’s Second Violin Concerto
Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s Catamorphosis, is – in the composer’s words – inspired by “the fragile relationship we have to our planet” and its core “revolves around
January 12, 2023
Chandos – John Wilson & Sinfonia of London – Delius, Elgar, Howells, Vaughan Williams
The flood of new releases from this source shows no sign of abating. And given
January 18, 2023
Martyn Brabbins & BBC Symphony Orchestra record VaughanWilliams 6 & 8 for Hyperion
Two years ago I was much taken with Martyn Brabbins’s Fifth, perhaps the finest release
November 8, 2022
London Philharmonic releases Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage conducted by Edward Gardner.
It was Edward Gardner’s daring idea to open his London Philharmonic tenure with a concert
September 23, 2022
Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein’s Candide contains some very fine music without convincing as operetta or musical. It has been
October 30, 2021
Dinara Klinton plays Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Sonatas
Few bona fide keyboard titans play every Prokofiev Piano Sonata, and only a small cohort
August 4, 2021
Tchaikovsky’s Fourth & Sixth Symphonies and Violin Concerto – Erich Kleiber, Ruggiero Ricci, Malcolm Sargent [Eloquence]
This Fourth Symphony of Tchaikovsky first appeared on a five-disc 78rpm set in 1949, but
July 12, 2021
These are usually taken from press releases provided to us and published verbatim.
A Tanglewood Diary 2022 – July 7-16
I spent ten days at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers and students together, enabling music-lovers to experience a wide
July 7, 2022
Music for the End of Time – BBCSO Total Immersion – Theresienstadt
It is impossible to take in the scale and thoroughness of what happened in Theresienstadt (Terezín in Czech), the fortress town in Moravia that Nazi
January 23, 2022
Cumbria Opera Festival – Roderick Williams, Trouble in Tahiti, A Hand of Bridge, and Così fan tutte
Here are three reviews (the first two from Jane Bagot, the last from Colin Marston) of concerts that took place as part of Cumbria Opera
October 11, 2021
Feature LP Review – Tchaikovsky|Fischer|Kreizberg; Nopigom|Hwang; Tchaikovsky|Leningrad|Mravinsky
Tchaikovsky – Violin Concerto in D, Op.35; Sérénade mélancolique, Op.26; Valse-Scherzo, Op.34; Souvenir d’un lieu cher, Op.42* Julia Fischer (violin), Russian National Orchestra, Yakov Kreizberg
July 5, 2021
Feature LP Review – Beethoven|Cello Sonatas|Mainardi|Zecchi; Milstein Recital|Bussotti; Leonard-Morgan|American Dharma
Beethoven – The Cello Sonatas; Seven Variations on ‘Bei Männern, welche Liebe’ from Die Zauberflöte, WoO.46 Enrico Mainardi (cello) & Carlo Zecchi (piano) Recorded at
July 5, 2021
Feature LP Review – van der Aa|Time Falling; Massenet|Birmingham|Fremaux; Biber|Rosenkranz-Sonaten
Michel van der Aa – Time Falling Kate-Miller Heidke (singer), Netherlands Chamber Choir, Michel van der Aa & Thijs de Vlieger Recorded at Exalto Studios,
July 5, 2021