GRAMOPHONE Review: Tchaikovsky Symphonies 4, 5 & 6 – Arctic Philharmonic/Lindberg
In a forward to the liner notes for this new BIS release superstar trombonist and composer turned conductor Christian Lindberg writes of his childhood obsession with the Tchaikovsky symphonies and in particular his fascination with the disparity…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Tchaikovsky/Sibelius Violin Concertos – Lisa Batiashvili/Staatskapelle Berlin/Barenboim
Editor’s choice (January 2017) There is no violinist currently playing the high-end of the international circuit that I would sooner go out of my way to hear than Lisa Batiashvili. There is something so super-intuitive about her…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony 7 – Dusseldorf Symphony Orchestra/Adam Fischer
The “other” Fischer boldly goes here where his younger brother has enjoyed such conspicuous success – and Adam, with his excellent Dusseldorf Symphony, may well be one up on Ivan with this compelling account of Mahler’s outlandish…
Dreamgirls, Savoy Theatre
It’s taken almost four nail-biting decades for Dreamgirls to evolve from the germ of an idea to the most anticipated show never to have quite made it, lock, stock, and smoking barrel across the Atlantic. The germ…
Lazarus, King’s Cross Theatre
When David Bowie first met with producer Robert Fox to discuss Lazarus back in 2013 you have to now wonder if he was seriously contemplating his own mortality. The clue, of course, is in the title, and…
The Last Five Years, St James Theatre
From Monteverdi to Schubert to Bernstein and Lloyd Webber the dramatic song cycle has travelled far and wide over the centuries though not until Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years in opposite directions. His two-handed tour-de-force…
Floyd Collins, Wilton’s Music Hall
It’s one of those true stories you really couldn’t make up. In 1920s Kentucky, Floyd Collins, visionary cave explorer, happens across a spectacular sand cave – the sand cave of his dreams – only to become trapped…
A Conversation With DAME SIÂN PHILLIPS
Dame Siân Phillips is a celebrated and much loved Welsh star of stage and screen, acclaimed for her scheming Livia in I Claudius (Best Actress BAFTA), her portrayal of Marlene Dietrich in Marlene (UK and USA) and…
Groundhog Day, Old Vic
Well over a decade ago Stephen Sondheim expressed some interest in turning the movie Groundhog Day into a musical. Presumably he, too, would have turned to the movie’s scriptwriter Danny Rubin for the book – it is,…
Ramin Karimloo, London Palladium
Strictly speaking it should have been billed as “Ramin Karimloo and Broadgrass at the London Palladium” – then we might have anticipated the support act and late arrival of the West End and Broadway star known especially…
