Listening to Bartók’s chilling ‘pantomime grotesque’ The Miraculous Mandarin – complete – in a performance as good as this one you do ask yourself why anyone would programme the Suite any more. There is the small matter…
The London Symphony Orchestra have a kind of ownership on this piece. The era of Andre Previn and his and their championship of it was one of the defining moments in a period of change – not…
Each Sunday morning whilst awaiting the BBC’s news round-up from Andrew Marr (an erstwhile editor of mine) I generally catch the end of Gary Lineker and his pundits reviewing the week’s football. Now I’m no expert on…
It has often been said that over the last half-century or so orchestras have begun to sound more and more alike. As the instruments themselves have grown in sophistication, evolved to be more flexible and capable of…
Sunday 18th July 2021 3.00pm Crazy Coqs, Brasserie Zédel Comparing Notes brings stars of the West End and Broadway to Crazy Coqs. In a lively and informal mix of performance and conversation host Edward Seckerson will be getting…
Sunday 13th June 2021 3.00pm Crazy Coqs, Brasserie Zédel Comparing Notes brings stars of the West End and Broadway to Crazy Coqs. In a lively and informal mix of performance and conversation host Edward Seckerson will be getting…
This gorgeous piece by Richard Taylor (music and lyrics) and Rachel Wagstaff (book) is a great example of how the musical has evolved in recent years and how much the worlds of opera and musicals can impact…
A recent conversation with Vasily Petrenko once again brought home to me just how much at odds our impressions of Russian music can be when shared with those closer to its source. We were discussing his recent…
Oscar winning Hollywood and Broadway star Liza Minnelli talks to Edward Seckerson about her showbiz career. Featuring plenty of songs in full in this special recording as Liza talks in detail about her parts in Flora the…
John Wilson’s reverence for Sir John Barbirolli’s iconic disc of English String Music with the now reborn Sinfonia of London is no great secret. In reclaiming the name and the ethos of the orchestra he could be…
