As we saw from Sunday’s post (Emmanuel Despax plays Ravel), it’s Ravel’s anniversary; and indeed Bertrand Chamayou played, on the same night, complete Ravel solo piano music in Paris. Nearly a decade ago, Chamayou corded […]
Mozart, Mahler Katia & Marielle Labèque (pianos); Czech Philharmonic Orchestra / Semyon Bychkov. Barbican Hall, London, 09.03.2025 Mozart Concerto for Two Pianos in E flat, K 365 (1779) Mahler Symphony No. 5 in C sharp minor (1901/2) […]
Ravel, Fauré/Despax, Despax Emmanul Despax (piano). Bechstein Hall, London, 07.03.2025 Ravel Miroirs, M. 43 (1904/5) Despax The Sound of Music Fantasy (2020) Fauré Mélodies, Op. 7: Après un rêve (arr. Despax) Ravel Gaspard de la nuit, M 55 (1908) […]
This is a significant release from Naxos: Rachmaninoc’s Piano Sonatas No. 1 & 2, plus an arrangement of the orchestral tone-poem The Isle of the Dead. The First Sonata, D-Minor, Op. 28, dates from 1907/08. […]
Save our souls, still up to date? VENI ensemble: Save Art, Stay Libertine! VENI ensemble: Save our Souls, Concert Review The Eternal Return of Form: Ruins, Art, & Metaphysics Schubert Schwanengesang from New York: review […]
This is exactly the sort of discovery that first got me “into” Classical music. Perhaps I’d find an obscure composer on a Turnabout LP (Koželuch sings to mind on one occasion), and the search for […]
Haydn, Mahler/Schnittke, Tchaikovsky Alena Baeva (violin); London Philharmonic Orchestra / Omer Meir Wellber. (conductor/harpsichord/piano). Royal Festival Hall, London, 01.03.2025 Haydn Symphony No. 49 in F minor, ‘La Passione’ (1768) Mahler/Schnittke Piano Quartet (1878/1988, arr. Wellber/Kagarlitsky, 2024) Tchaikovsky Violin […]
We previously met Lucca-born Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) on a disc on Glossa’s “Cabinet” label, a set of superb performance software the composer’s Op. 2 Concerti grossi. That was in 2020, and revisiting the disc, the […]
Mauriaio Pollini’s death was a significant blow to the piano world. His concerts in London over the years were always highlights, a great pianist of unfathomable energy who always illuminated everything he touched. A musician […]
A coupling of the Elgar Violin Concerto and Violin Sonata today; plus, a truncated performance of the concerto, all led by Albert Sammons. Born in 1886 in West London, Sammons’ remarkable life includes leaving school […]
