Classical Music Reviews
Quatuor Danel at Wigmore Hall: Weinberg & Shostakovich
Weinberg, Shostakovich Quatuor Danel Wigmore Hall, 6.5.2025 Weinberg String Quartets: No. 14, Op. 122 (1978); No. 15, Op. 124 (1980) Shostakovich String Quartet No. 14 in F sharp, op. 142 (1973) This was a […]
Mr Brouček’s Barbican adventures
Janáček The Excursions of Mr Brouček (‘Výlety páně Broučkovy’; concert performance). Cast; Tenebrae; London Symphony Orchestra / Sir Simon Rattle (conductor). Barbican Hall, 04.05.2025 Cast: Broućek – Peter Hoare Mazal/Blankytný/Petřík – Aleš Briscein Malinka/Etherea/Kunka – Lucy […]
Pianist Alon Kariv in Interview: Chopin’s First Concerto, and more
Israeli pianist Alon Kariv will play Chopin’s First Piano Concetto on Sunday, May 11 at London’s Cadogan Hall with the English Chamber Orchestra. Ahead of that performance, I met Alon to discuss all things piano, […]
Requiem A is much more influenced by Swans, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Sigur Rós: composer Sven Helbig in his new Requiem A
Premiere of Sven Helbig’s Requiem A at the Dresdner Kreuzkirche (Photo: Oliver Killig) The composer Sven Helbig has been on my radar since at least 2013 when his disc Pocket Symphonies came out [see my review] […]
Classical Music News
Why am I listening to this emptiness all over again?
From the Lebrecht Album of the Week: What’s this record doing on my deck? I have listened to Furtwängler’s own recordings of his overlong second symphony, and have heard it performed live by Daniel Barenboim […]
Covent Garden replaces bass in Faust
Erwin Schrott has pulled out as Mephisto in Covent Garden’s upcoming production of Gounod’s Faust. His replacement is a rising Pole, Adam Palka, who has sung leading roles in Vienna, Paris and Milan. His Mephisto […]
US concertmaster gets 15-30 for child rape
After a plea deal that got him out of a possible life sentence Odin Rathnam, former concertmaster of the Harrisburg Symphony in Pennsylvania, was sentenced to 15 to 30 years in state prison for repeated […]
Just in: Trump fires Librarian of Congress by email
In Washington, is no-one safe? Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden was fired last night by email after ten years in the job. She was the first woman in the post. The email said: ‘Carla, On […]
