There are kazilliions of Goldbergs out there. Here’s one with a difference: an arrangement by Tomáš Ille (born 1971) for French horn (Radek Baborák), violin (Dalibor Karvay), marimba (Andrei Pushkarev) and bass clarinet (Petr Velášek). […]
Macbeth, Op. 23 (1886-8) Richard Strauss’ first tone-poem, is not heard much. Norman del Mar devoted much space to it in his fine Strauss books, though, and that piqued my interest many, many years ago […]
Audience members had come from far and wide, making a kind of pilgrimage to this unlikely, austerely magical venue set in the Hampshire countryside. In recent years John Wilson and his hand-picked, high-octane orchestra have […]
Lullaby (noun) – A song sung to children to soothe them to rest. Also, any song which soothes to rest. (Oxford English Dictionary online) Inevitably the idea of a lullaby is immediately associated with children but […]
Wagner: Das Rheingold – Deutsche Oper Berlin (Photo: Bernd Uhlig) Wagner: Der Ring des Nibelungen; director: Stefan Herheim, conductor: Sir Donald Runnicles; Deutsche Oper BerlinReviewed by Tony Cooper (4 June 2026) Auf wiedersehen! Following this […]
Happy “birth”- day to Wigmore Hall (inasmuch as bricks and mortar are birthed). On the hall’s actual 125th anniversary, it was Lise Davidsen and the equally astonishing collaborative pianist James Baillieu who did the honours: […]
Teodor Doré: Flow Interrupted It’s not often that I write about the London Festival of Architecture, but on 5 June 2026 Renaissance-21 is presenting Flow Interrupted, a prepared piano performance by Teodor Doré at Roca […]
Alessandro Taverna & Francesca Dego Korngold: Violin Sonata, Schoenberg: Phantasy, Richard Strauss: Violin Sonata; Francesca Dego, Alessandro Taverna; Conway HallReviewed 31 May 206 Youthful Korngold and Strauss before he was Strauss in a remarkable pair of big late-romantic […]
“God it’s just so boring.” That’s the extent of my listening notes for this new album from John Wilson and company. So do I even need to go on? (I suppose I could elaborate a bit. […]
Creative Minds in Song (2023) In this guest posting pianist Gavin Roberts, artistic director of Song in the City, introduces Creative Minds in Song. On Friday 5 June, audiences at St Giles Cripplegate will hear the […]
.jpg?w=160&resize=160,160&ssl=1 "By turns ravishing & spine-tingling: period instrument orchestra Les Siècles is the star of the show in Berlioz's La damnation de Faust at the BBC Proms conducted by Jakob Lehmann")
