A Conversation With MARK ELDER
The label has always prided itself on its sense of style, its balance of head and heart with regard to casting. Stars have been established from these recordings, operas restored to their rightful place at the core…
Wagner “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”, Royal Opera House
The years have undoubtedly taken their toll and what seemed so fresh and new in 1993 – the pristine abstractions of Richard Hudson’s design, the washes of orange and gold light, the assertively jolly Brueghelesque costumes –…
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fleming, Eschenbach, Royal Festival Hall
With Wagner’s Tannhäuser Overture raising the curtain, so to speak, Renée Fleming arrived like Venus in a soufflé of black and bronze layered chiffon. Or to be more in keeping with the Strauss Four Last Songs she…
Britten Sinfonia & Voices, Elder, Queen Elizabeth Hall
The onstage mingling of orchestra, soloists, and conductor prior to this seasonal performance of Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ was presumably designed to lend a more intimate, informal tone to the start of the evening so that the…
London Symphony Orchestra, Mutter, Gergiev, Barbican Hall
For anyone who’s ever thought that the term Vorsprung durch Technik might be better applied to the superstar violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter than a certain brand of automobile her hair-raising account of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto with Valery Gergiev…
Australian Chamber Orchestra, Tognetti, Queen Elizabeth Hall
At the core of the Australian Chamber Orchestra is a string ensemble, soloistic in nature, enquiring in spirit, whose connections one to the other make for a palpable kind of musical telepathy. Energy and vitality are key…
Greer/Wallen “Yes”, Linbury Studio Theatre
The starting and finishing point for Errollyn Wallen and Bonnie Greer’s chamber opera Yes is Greer’s 2009 appearance on BBC’s Question Time alongside the British National Party’s Nick Griffin. Entering the Linbury auditorium – opened up on…
OAE, Podger, Queen Elizabeth Hall
The OAE billed this one 1700s London & the Fab Four which I guess left it to us, the audience, to decide who might be the Lennon and McCartney of the evening. JC Bach and Carl Friedrich…
I, Culture Orchestra, Kotla, Marriner, Royal Festival Hall
Sounding for all the world like the latest App for a certain smartphone, the I, Culture Orchestra is the youngest orchestra on the planet – just seven concerts old. In essence it’s the official orchestra of the…
Philharmonia Orchestra, Salonen, Royal Festival Hall
Sometimes the most disturbing images exist only in our imaginations – and so the questions posed in the preface to Bartok’s operatic masterpiece Duke Bluebeard’s Castle become especially pertinent: “Where did this happen – outside or within?…