Concert Reviews

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An Evening With Klea Blackhurst at The Crazy Coqs
In London and New York, and many other cities, Klea Blackhurst has triumphed with a one-woman show entitled “Everything the Traffic Will Allow”, a phrase from Irving Berlin’s anthem to...
11053 1
Alexander Gavrylyuk at Wigmore Hall – Mozart, Rachmaninov, Pictures at an Exhibition
When Alexander Gavrylyuk began this BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert at Wigmore Hall there was little clue to the way in which he would end it. His softly voiced account...
11052 1
English National Opera – La bohème [Kate Valentine, Gwyn Hughes Jones, Angel Blue, Richard Burkhard; cond. Oleg Caetani]
Having tied itself in knots over the questionable quality and technical ambition of Sunken Garden, English National Opera has returned to comfort-zone territory with the second revival of Jonathan Miller’s...
11049 1
Baroque Carnival – Red Priest at Kings Place
With its very visual and at times overtly choreographed manner of performance, Red Priest might well have been thought too volatile an ensemble for the austere environs of Hall One...
11045 1
Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin – Ravel’s La valse & Ives 4 – Lynn Harrell plays Dvořák [live webcast]
From shady and shadowy beginnings, out of the gloom emerges a proud Viennese waltz. So begins Ravel’s World War One-motivated La valse, well-heeled society becoming embroiled in conflict. The Detroit...
11047 1
Emmanuel Despax at Wigmore Hall – Liszt, Chopin, Prokofiev
The young (29) French pianist Emmanuel Despax has put himself through quite a London marathon during the past week – a Cadogan Hall concert last Thursday, in which he played...
11046 1
Chris Burgess’s Sleeping Arrangements [Landor Theatre]
Musicals are coming thick and fast at the moment, at least to London fringe theatres, such as Bare: The Rock Musical, The Billie Holiday Story, Buerk! The Newsical, Geek!, The...
11043 1
The Rest is Noise – London Philharmonic – Vladimir Jurowski conducts Webern, Berg, Martinů and Bartók – with Barbara Hannigan as Lulu
It’s no doubt helpful to have the tag of The Rest of Noise to hang particular hats on, but this mouth-watering collection of four masterpieces should have no need of...
11044 1
BBC Symphony Orchestra/Stéphane Denève – Poulenc’s Les Animaux modèles & Ravel’s L’Enfant et les sortilèges
Four little fables and a cautionary tale made for a glowing Gallic evening, exquisitely delivered by what might be termed ‘pro-am’ forces. Not that the nineteen-strong clutch of the Royal...
11051 1
Swedish Chamber Orchestra/Thomas Dausgaard at Alice Tully Hall with Nina Stemme
Taking place on a dimly lit stage, the first half of this programme – subtitled “Love, Hope and Destiny” – was conceived more as a theatrical event than a vocal-recital-with-orchestra....
11040 1
Ani Karapetyan, Alisa Liubarskaya & Mikhail Shilyaev at Peacock Recital Room – Shostakovich, Miaskovsky, Roslavets
It is often the case that programmes by young musicians are more interesting and more important than those offered by older, more established, artists. The truth of that statement was...
11036 1
LSO/John Eliot Gardiner 70th-Birthday Concert – Stravinsky’s Apollon musagète & Oedipus Rex [Stuart Skelton, Jennifer Johnston, Gidon Saks, Fanny Ardant]
The birthday itself was on April 20. Fresh from performances of this programme in Brussels and Paris, with Cologne to come, a lean and energetic Sir John Eliot Gardiner led...
11042 1
Juan Diego Flórez and Vincenzo Scalera at Barbican Hall
The high-point of Peruvian tenor Juan Diego Flórez’s residency at the Barbican Centre was reached before a packed house. Generosity was the order of the day, with a banquet of...
11037 1
Liz Robertson Sings Her Favourite Songs at The Crazy Coqs
A show-business veteran, who danced at the Savoy at the age of sixteen, Liz Robertson has a fine voice for musical-comedy. Productions in which she starred include a London revival...
11034 1
Klara Min at Wigmore Hall – Chopin & Schumann … Sean Hickey UK premiere
A native of South Korea and now living in New York, Klara Min chose a programme for her Wigmore Hall recital that was akin to entering the gladiatorial arena. She...
11033 1
Philharmonia Orchestra/Vasily Petrenko – The Enchanted Lake & Prokofiev 5 – Nikolai Lugansky plays Tchaikovsky
The last time I heard Vasily Petrenko was when he stood in for (now the late) Sir Colin Davis with the LSO, delivering one of those performances – in this...
11058 1
Nathan & Julie Gunn and Pacifica Quartet at Zankel Hall [A Shropshire Lad, Dover Beach, General William Booth Enters Into Heaven, Blue Mountain Ballads]
Classical vocal recitals sung entirely in English are rare nowadays, as are concerts juxtaposing voice and string quartet, so this performance bringing Nathan Gunn and his wife Julie together with...
11039 1
Oratorio Society of New York at Carnegie Hall – Britten’s War Requiem
Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem – first performed on 20 May 1962 at the then new Coventry Cathedral in England – is one of the great masterpieces of the twentieth century....
11031 1
Elisabeth Leonskaja at Wigmore Hall – Schumann, Liszt & Tchaikovsky
Elisabeth Leonskaja opened this BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert with Schumann’s Papillons, the collection of short pieces inspired by Jean Paul’s novel Flegeljahre. Within this the composer explores two contrary...
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Budapest Festival Orchestra/Iván Fischer at Royal Festival Hall – Dohnányi & Bartók – Imogen Cooper plays Beethoven
The thirty-year-old Budapest Festival Orchestra and its co-founder Iván Fischer (pianist-conductor Zoltán Kocsis is the other co) have built a considerable international reputation, not least for performances and recordings of...