Classical Source Reviews

The evening opened with a refreshing and commanding account of the Beethoven, Manfred Honeck leaving no doubt as to his mastery of the Austro-German tradition. His robust but unforced approach elicited sumptuous playing,allowing the music […]

In recent years Sakari Oramo has established himself as a Mahlerian of distinction and tonight’s realisation proved a quietly audacious mix of trends old and new. Not that there was much attempt to emulate the […]

Leave aside for a moment the completeness of Igor Levit’s musicianship and consider the stamina and sheer physicality of a recital played without an interval – which, given his programme, would have been welcome – […]

Angela Hewitt’s recital brought together music variously conceived to entertain a royal patron, serve as a teaching manual, and consolidate youthful works which demonstrated a formidable keyboard technique. At some forty minutes Brahms’s Third Piano […]

With two seasons to go before Gustavo Dudamel takes over as Music Director, the Philharmonic is hosting a parade of guest conductors. This week Ken-David Masur led a varied program curated by the orchestra’s musicians. […]

The Philharmonic’s first program of the 24-25 season opened with a sparkling account of Mozart’s genial Concerto No.14 with Emanuel Ax. Written in 1784, K449 is the first of his mature piano concertos and the […]

For reasons that are unclear – possibly a libretto laden with innuendo, or a subplot about desertion from the army, in an opera composed near the end of the Napoleonic Wars – Rossini’s third opera, […]

I spent nearly two weeks at Tanglewood, the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s summer home, which brings performers, teachers, and students together, enabling music lovers to experience a wide range of musical activities while enjoying the beautiful […]

Ludovico Ariosto’s long narrative poem Orlando furioso, from the early 16th century, proved to be highly influential not only as a masterpiece within the domain of literature, but also as a regular source for countless […]

Opera Holland Park’s new production of Pagliacci this season is paired, not with its usual partner Cavalleria rusticana, but with a contrastingly comic take on the theme of suspicion and jealousy, Wolf-Ferrari’s Susanna’s Secret (a revival of John Wilkie’s production from 2019). Her […]