Concert Reviews

Carlos Acosta – A Classical Selection
After the horrors of his Carmen it is good to write something positive about Carlos Acosta, who is continuing to bow-out of the Classical Ballet world in a series of...
MET Chamber Ensemble/James Levine with John Moore at Zankel Hall – Boulez’s Dérive 1, Poulenc’s Le Bal masqué, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time
The versatile MET Chamber Ensemble devoted this concert to three significant French composers. Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) had an affinity for the Parisian patois of the early-1920s mixed with a Dadaist...
Academy of St Martin in the Fields/Alan Gilbert at Cadogan Hall – Brahms’s Haydn Variations & Haydn 90 – Inon Barnatan plays Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.3
Alan Gilbert, music director of the New York Philharmonic, here made his debut with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the New York connection extending to Inon Barnatan,...
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sakari Oramo – Mysterious Mountain & Alpine Symphony – Colin Currie gives the UK premiere of Andrew Norman’s Switch
Mountains real and imagined dominated this concert, which opened with a rare revival (at least in the UK) of the ‘Mysterious Mountain’ Symphony (1955) by Alan Hovhaness (1911-2000). Premiered by...
Michael Nyman’s War Work: eight songs with film
Whilst much of London was Ding-Donging Merrily and others were warning Snow White that the Wicked Witch was behind her, a large audience at the Barbican Hall was encountering something...
Philharmonia Orchestra/Jérémie Rhorer – L’Enfance du Christ, Namouna, Swan Lake – James Ehnes plays Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole
There was an end-of-term feel to this Philharmonia Orchestra concert, its particulars changed along the way. Lalo’s F-major Violin Concerto became its opus-number successor, Symphonie espagnole, and selections from Delibes’s...
Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty at Sadler’s Wells
First seen in 2012, Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty presses all the right theatrical buttons for a Christmas show at the Sadler’s Wells: sumptuous sets and costumes, undemanding and accessible dance,...
Pacifica Quartet at 92nd Street Y – Elliott Carter’s Fifth, Janáček’s Intimate Letters, Beethoven’s Opus 135
A recital that embraced these composers’ final music for string quartet. The Pacifica Quartet is well acquainted with Elliott Carter’s compositions having recorded this repertoire for Naxos. As a curtain...
Spitalfields Winter Festival – Charpentier & Stradella with The English Concert & Harry Bicket
The English Concert’s programme of some delightful and little-known 17th-century music related to Christmas explored the notorious interface between French and Italian styles which played off against each other, as...
Jonathan Biss at Wigmore Hall – Mozart Sonatas, Schoenberg Pieces and Schumann’s Kreisleriana
Every time I hear Jonathan Biss, even when he’s at his most driven and in spite of some generous pedalling, I am convinced by his authority and infectious involvement with...
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Jaap van Zweden – Cyrano de Bergerac & Beethoven 7 – Frank Peter Zimmermann gives the premiere of Magnus Lindberg’s Violin Concerto No.2
Jaap van Zweden opened this London Philharmonic concert with music by his fellow Dutchman Johan Wagenaar (1862-1941). Cyrano de Bergerac, completed in 1905 and first-conducted by Gustav Mahler, is more...
The Royal Ballet – The Nutcracker
There are those for whom every Christmas becomes another Nutcracker closer to death. While it is true that too much of this ballet can rot the critical faculties, the odd...
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin – Kinah and Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony [live webcast]
Kinah is the Hebrew word for elegy. In his piece of that name Leonard Slatkin is remembering his parents. Both of Slatkin’s folks were significant and versatile musicians – Felix...
LSO/Daniel Harding – Bruckner’s Romantic Symphony and world premiere of James Moriarty’s Windows – Maria João Pires plays Mozart K271
Mozart and Bruckner together normally make for a good combination. With a soloist of the highest calibre as here in one of Mozart’s finest Piano Concertos and maybe what is...
Philharmonia Orchestra/Andris Nelsons – Bruckner 8 – Håkan Hardenberger plays Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Nobody knows de trouble I see
Bernd Alois Zimmermann (1918-70) composed this jazz-influenced one-movement trumpet concerto in 1954 – the title refers to the well-known Spiritual ‘Nobody knows de trouble I see’, which is heard after...
Stockhausen’s Hymnen / Boulez’s Dérive 1 & Anthèmes 2
Eight years on from his untimely death and Stockhausen performances continue to be notable occasions on the London music scene; one such accordingly dominating this concert which otherwise served as...
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Marin Alsop – Woman of the Apocalypse and Tchaikovsky 5 – Nicholas Daniel plays The Angel of Mons / Singers at Six: Judith Bingham and James MacMillan
Marin Alsop was back with the BBC Symphony Orchestra for a concert led by two recent works by Judith Bingham and James MacMillan. Both composers are steeped in Christian liturgy...
London Philharmonic Orchestra/Enrique Mazzola – Tosca (Maria Luigia Borsi, Thiago Arancam, Vittorio Vitelli), La Strada, Pines of Rome
An excursion to Rome courtesy of the London Philharmonic, Enrique Mazzola as our Tour Guide (although better to have had a short opening piece rather than a spoken introduction). But...
Singapore Symphony Orchestra/Vladimir Ashkenazy at Esplanade Concert Hall – Rachmaninov Gala with Alexei Volodin – Vocalise, Piano Concerto No.3, Symphonic Dances
An orchestra with the virtuoso touch, the 96-strong Singapore Symphony has widely impressed on recent visits to Europe. Last year, under extravagantly gifted Chinese-born music director, Lan Shui, the musicians...
Philharmonia Orchestra/Esa-Pekka Salonen – Romeo and Juliet & The Poem of Ecstasy – Lang Lang plays Prokofiev 3
Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No.3 formed the centrepiece for the last of three concerts showcasing Lang Lang with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen. And what a show it turned out...
Skip to content