Filippo Gorini’s Sonata for 7 Cities project
“The idea is simple: instead of constantly travelling from one concert venue to another, I want to focus on each city for a full month and offer as much as I can to the local […]
ΚΡΙΤΙΚΕΣ
BBC Symphony Orchestra – An evening-long meditation on life and the hereafter
This typically thoughtful programme from Sakari Oramo was marketed as ‘an evening-long meditation on life and the hereafter’. The Lark Ascending is scarcely that – Ursula Vaughan Williams also maintained that her husband, a reluctant countryman, could […]
Celebrating 20 years, the East Neuk Festival welcomes old friends in a programme with Schubert and Beethoven at its core
The audience at Crail Church at the East Neuk Festival, 2024 (Photo: Neil Hanna) The 20th East Neuk Festival will fill some of East Fife’s most stunning seaside locations with line-up of classical, jazz, folk, and […]
Handel Hendrix House celebrates Handel’s Rodelinda with rarely seen portrait of castrato Senesino as Bertarido in the opera
Senesino by John Vandenbank. Private Collection, UK. © The Handel House Trust/Christopher Ison. It is 300 years since Handel first wrote and presented Rodelinda, the second of three masterpieces that he wrote just after moving […]
Marschner: Piano Trios, Volume 1
Best known for his opera Der Vampyr (he was a leading composer in the period between Weber and Wagner), Heinrich August Marschner (1795-1861). He was well travelled though Europe before he arrived in Dresden by […]
The NOVO Quartet triumphs at Wigmore Hall
Beethoven NOVO Quartet. Wigmore Hall, London, 3pm, 19.01.2025 (CC) String Quartets: No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18/4 (1799/1800); No. 9 in C, Op. 59/3, Razumovsky’ (1806) The NOVO Quartet of Denmark won the 77th […]
Beyond Ravel: Mathias Halvorsen comprehensively demonstrates it is well worth exploring Paul Wittgenstein’s commissions beyond the familiar Ravel
Concertos for the Left Hand: Ravel, Korngold; Mathias Halvorsen, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Otto Tausk; Backlash MusicReviewed 22 January 2025 Two Paul Wittgenstein associated works, one known, one lesser-known, both receive towering performances that bring out […]
Seek Him That Maketh the Seven Stars: Manchester Camerata & Kantos explore space with the James Webb Space Telescope
Manchester Camerata & Kantos explore space with the James Webb Space Telescope The Manchester Camerata will be giving a pair of concerts in its home, the Monastery in Gorton, Manchester [see my 2023 article about […]
Schubert Song Prize winners for 2024
Eyra Norman, Abhisri Chaudhuri, Nicky Spence The London Song Festival and Schubert Society have announced the winners of the 2024 London Song Festival Masterclass & Schubert Song Prize Competition. The 2024 Masterclass and Schubert Song […]
Painterly inspirations: Aglica Trio give the UK premiere of John Casken’s Toiles de Staël
Nicolas de Staël (1914-1955) was a Russian-born French painter whose turbulent life often overshadowed his short career. Composer John Casken describes de Staël’s canvases as being as vibrant and vivid of any artist working at […]
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