The venerable and venerated Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra gave the first ever complete cycle of Beethoven symphonies and Riccardo Chailly, their 19th Kapellmeister, was impatient to renew that sense of revelation and surprise in an age when each of the nine has grown so familiar that restoring the elusive shock-of-the-new factor can and does separate the … [Read More]
Edward Seckerson
Reviews, Blogs, Podcasts
Reviews, Podcasts and Blogs
Classical music, Opera and Musical Theatre reviews
Monthly Archives: October 2011
Jonas Kaufmann, Royal Festival Hall
Jonas Kaufmann has re-written the Rule Book on tenors. A lyric voice that darkens to embrace the heroic repertoire, an occasional heldentenor who can also sing Lehár with supreme elegance, a German who is utterly, completely, and believably Italianate, there is really no one quite like Kaufmann on the international scene right now. He’s a … [Read More]
Lucerne Festival Orchestra, Abbado, Royal Festival Hall
Precious few conductors bring an aura of their own into the concert hall, still fewer change our perceptions of music and the way we listen to it. Claudio Abbado is one. And the orchestra he hand-picked back in 2003 to live and breathe the music like an extension of himself is the Lucerne Festival Orchestra.… [Read More]
Tagged with: bruckner, claudio abbado, lucerne festival orchestra, mitsuko uchida, schumann
Posted in Reviews
Posted in Reviews
Mozart “The Marriage of Figaro”, English National Opera
As the orchestra belatedly tunes up, a blind Don Basilio taps his way to the harpsichord at the side of the stage. His clothes are recognisably 18th century, as is his instrument. But the labyrinthine set beyond (Peter McKintosh) is of no particular time or period, a flimsy abstraction of floated walls and doors, rooms … [Read More]
Podcasts: excite and engage your audiences.