GRAMOPHONE Review: Bruckner Symphony No. 6 – Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra/Dausgaard
The word ‘chivalrous’ invariably comes to mind with the opening measures of Bruckner Sixth. Knights errant galloping towards new adventures, colourful pennants flying with that first brassy tutti. There’s also more than a hint of Wagner’s Die…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – April 2020
As some readers may be aware, a significant proportion of my journalism these days is given over to a favourite format – the live public interview. As I write this column an exciting four days beckon during…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Malloy Octet – Original Cast Recording
It will probably come as no surprise to anyone familiar with the weird and wonderful work of Dave Molloy that this so-called ‘Chamber Choir Musical’ is an extraordinary confection. I listened to it on the same day…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Copland Billy The Kid Suite / Dvořák Symphony No. 9 ‘From the New World – National Symphony Orchestra, Washington DC/Noseda
A brand new label showcasing both the National Symphony Orchestra and their home – the Kennedy Center – in Washington DC offers two familiar postcards ‘From the New World’ in performances that should but don’t stand out…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. 4 – Carolyn Sampson, Minnesota Orchestra/Vänskä
Let me say straight away that Vanska is temperamentally far better suited to the pristine, child-like world of the Fourth Symphony than he was to the epic Second. There are many aspects of this excellent performance (and…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – March 2020
A great deal has already been written about Beethoven this year. There will be more. Allow me to add to it. I have a vivid memory – a particular concert that took place on 9 June 1981…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Barber / Tchaikovsky Violin Concertos – Johan Dalene, Norrköping Symphony Orchestra/Blendulf
Gramophone has already singled out this young man as one to watch and from the shaping of his solo entrance in the Tchaikovsky alone there’s a ‘presence’ about Johan Dalene’s playing that announces a musician of special…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition / Khachaturian Spartacus Suite, Etc. – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Petrenko
This is one of those discs which commands respect (this conductor is pretty much always a safe investment) without setting the world on fire. I kept waiting for, anticipating, moments in all of these pieces when Petrenko…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Kathleen Ferrier in New York – Kathleen Ferrier, Set Svanholm, New York Philharmonic Orchestra/Walter
A treasure, to be sure. Four years before Bruno Walter’s celebrated, indeed classic, Vienna recording (1952) with Kathleen Ferrier, the man who conducted the world premiere of Mahler’s pantheistic symphony with voices takes his newest discovery from…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – February 2020
After so many years of concert-going – including a time when writing for The Guardian and The Independent newspapers that I was averaging three concerts a week minimum – it’s good to be reminded that I can…
