A new Viennese string quartet – Chaos
Great name for a string quartet! It certainly got my attention (as did the repertoire) and enticed me to buy their debut recording which appears on a label new to me, Solo Musica, produced by […]
tritonous
New Sussex Opera – Lampe’s The Dragon of Wantley
John Frederick Lampe’s opera The Dragon of Wantley (1737) is based on a Yorkshire legend about a ferocious dragon who terrorises the area of Wharncliffe Crags that was made better known in a ballad. The opera served […]
A love affair with Mendelssohn at the Anvil
In these revelatory performances from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Sir András Schiff, no one could possibly doubt his passion for Mendelssohn who Hans von Bulow once waspishly declared “began life as […]
Takács Assad Labro
Through their work with the Hungaraton, Decca and Hyperion labels the Takács Quartet are very much associated with the core repertoire, so this release featuring five contemporary composers, bandoneón (a cross between a concertina and […]
A fitting tribute to a true legend – John Williams
I’m more than a fan. I think I’m even more than an aficionado. John Williams is an inspiration; a musical hero, really. And of course when I saw this production, I had to have it. […]
Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall – Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts Mahler 7 – Karen Gargill sings Alma Mahler
In a program showcasing music by the Mahlers, Yannick Nézet-Séguin led the Philadelphia Orchestra in the former’s Seventh Symphony, preceded by four elusive songs by his wife (née Alma Schindler) in skillfully crafted 1995 arrangements […]
LPO, Edward Gardner & Seong-Jin Cho at the Royal Festival Hall – Wagner, Beethoven, Tippett
Edward Gardner fashioned a clear-sighted account of the Tippett, controlling the first movement’s gnarly energy and gentle sonorities with ease and allowed a natural unfolding of the music’s tension and release. If its contrapuntal busyness […]
English Touring Opera – Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress – Frederick Jones, Nazan Fikret & Jerome Knox; directed by Polly Graham; conducted by Jack Sheen
Although The Rake’s Progress is ultimately a moral fable, Polly Graham’s production doesn’t take it with too much po-faced seriousness. Rather it plays up its mordant humour by presenting it as like a cabaret, with a quirky […]
English Touring Opera – Puccini’s Manon Lescaut – Jenny Stafford, GarethDafydd Morris & Aidan Edwards; directed by Jude Christian; conducted by Gerry Cornelius
Alongside considerable colour and exuberance, Jude Christian’s production of Puccini’s Manon Lescaut for English Touring Opera poignantly, even sardonically, contrasts the life of luxury which the eponymous character could have had with Geronte in Paris with the […]
Absolutely glorious. A delightful disc from beginning to end
Every once in a while a disc comes along which is so pleasant – and such a pleasant surprise – it brings smile after smile. This disc of orchestral music from the unjustly neglected British […]
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