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: ‘Wien’ – Jonas Kaufmann, Rachel Willis-Sørenson, Vienna Philharmonic/Fischer
If you’re watching the calories, stop reading now. This evocative collection of Viennese sweetmeats, of wine, women, song and Sachertorte, does not countenance the notion of abstinence. Kaufmann’s love affair with Vienna – City of Dreams –…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – July 2019
A number of years ago, during the run of my erstwhile BBC Radio 3 show Stage and Screen, I took to the stage of the Royal Opera’s Linbury Theatre with the soprano Renée Fleming for an in-depth…
Howard Goodall in conversation with Edward Seckerson
Thursday 3rd October 2019 7.30pm Bishopsgate Institute. Howard Goodall is a musician of many facets – composer, writer and TV presenter. He’s the Emmy, BRIT and BAFTA Award-winning composer of classic TV favourites such as The Vicar…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Sondheim Company – 2018 London Cast / Follies 2018 NT Cast
We should celebrate the fact that within the space of a year London has played host to stagings of not one but two Sondheim masterpieces that have all but redefined them in theatrical terms. Dominic Cooke’s handsome…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Brigadoon – New York City Center 2017 Cast/Berman
Of all Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway shows – and it’s a small but perfectly formed list – Brigadoon has to be my favourite. My Fair Lady is undoubtedly one of only a handful of musicals that could…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Songplay – Joyce DiDonato
What we have here is the epitome of what we Brits call a ‘Marmite’ experience with elements to love and/or loathe whether or not you buy the concept in the first place. Joyce DiDonato’s fans will, of…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – December 2018
The recent revival of The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess at English National Opera and the prospect of comparing all its available recordings in BBC Radio 3’s Record Review early next year has prompted me to look a…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Broadway – Renée Fleming, BBC Concert Orchestra/Fisher
After her previous forays into jazz and inde-pop to say nothing of her recent stint on Broadway as Nettie Fowler in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel it was almost inevitable that a Broadway album would be forthcoming from…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Bernstein Wonderful Town – Soloists, London Symphony Orchestra/Rattle
I’ve always been slightly puzzled as to why Simon Rattle (and subsequently Mark Elder) chose to anoint this particular show amongst Bernstein’s Broadway canon – not because I don’t love it as dearly as the others but…
