Concert Reviews

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St Petersburg Philharmonic in New York
To paraphrase Mark Twain, the rumors of the St Petersburg Philharmonic's demise have been greatly exaggerated. In a 2002 interview Yuri Temirkanov, the orchestra's Music Director, described the post-Perestroika state...
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Hairspray
Most of John Waters’s films are considered to be subversive, although “Hairspray” is the least sensational and in fact a very worthy and morally upright tale about teenager Tracy Turnblad’s...
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The Chelsea Pensioners’ Appeal
A series of concerts takes place regularly in aid of the Chelsea Pensioners’ Appeal and does so in the splendid surrounding of the Christopher Wren-designed Chapel that is further adorned...
British Light Classics
British light music has earned its place both in the concert hall and on record, a wealth of light classics written in the last century that are gradually reappearing. The...
Aronowitz Ensemble
These two quintets, forming the BBC Radio 3 Lunchtime Concert, from the final decade of the 19th century, tend to be overlooked in the recital room in favour of their...
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Kate Royal & Roger Vignoles
Expectations were running high for this second solo recital of the year at Wigmore Hall by the award-winning soprano Kate Royal. Currently in the middle of a run of performances...
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Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Brahms – 2
Sir John Eliot Gardiner and his Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique are currently setting Brahms “in an historical context”; not only with other composers but, of course, in the use of...
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Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique Brahms – 1
There was some intelligent programme planning evident here; all the music in the first half had a direct bearing on the principal work of the evening – Brahms's “A German...
Plague Songs
The arts organisation Artangel is nothing if not ambitious. Commission and produce a film update on the plagues of Egypt, cast it almost entirely from the inhabitants of Margate, and...
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Orchestra of St Luke’s at Carnegie Hall
The Orchestra of St Luke’s opened its new season (the 33rd) with a typically rewarding, eclectic program, the full complement of 60-plus players capable of resoundingly potent sonorities, strutting their...
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Korngold Focus
Organised by his biographer Jessica Duchen, this Focus Day devoted to the life and music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death and culminated in two...
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New York Philharmonic/Dohnányi Nikolaj Znaider
For his appearances as guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Christoph von Dohnányi served up a slice of contemporary music as a starter, followed by two courses consisting of...
Sinfonia Tamesa
Sinfonia Tamesa combines well-grounded expertise and enthusiasm. To bring the best out of these rather-more-than-amateurs yet not-quite professionals requires an astute and sympathetic conductor. Jason Lai provides a solid framework,...
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LSO/Previn Anne-Sophie Mutter – Gubaidulina Premiere
It was good to see André Previn back with the London Symphony Orchestra (he is now Conductor Laureate); it’s been a couple of years since his last London appearance (when...
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John Adams – 60th-Birthday Concert
For his 60th-birthday concert, one of many one imagines, John Adams conducted an interesting programme of works composed in the past half-century.Colin Matthews’s Reflected Images was commissioned by the San...
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Quatuor Mosaïques
Due to its extensive discography, Quatuor Mosaïques has for some time been the leading period-instrument string quartet. As with many such groups, its repertoire extends beyond the Classical period. There...
Luigi Nono: Fragments of Venice [Vivaldi]
The last of the non-Nono concerts to be included in the “Luigi Nono: Fragments of Venice” festival was one of music by Vivaldi – not so evident a predecessor, perhaps,...
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Guildhall Symphony Orchestra
The Guildhall Symphony Orchestra is comprised of students of the Guildhall School of Music. This concert was given to a well-behaved audience: no fidgeting, coughing or mobile-phones ringing. For those...
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Philharmonia Orchestra/Ashkenazy Vadim Repin
If this was a Gilbert & Sullivan ‘Savoy Opera’ then the alternative title would be “The Tale of the Lost and Found Oboist”.It was difficult to concentrate on the Wagner...
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Les Arts Florissants – Il Sant’ Alessio
"Il Sant’ Alessio” (1631) is an overtly political opera. In commissioning the entertainment for which Landi wrote the music, the Barberini brothers, nephews of Pope Urban VIII, were firing a...