GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – June 2019
There is an undeniable thrill in hearing special talent from other cultures embrace our music as their own. A few nights ago (at the time of writing) I had the pleasure of hearing Vassily Petrenko power the…
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: Elfman Violin Concerto ‘Eleven Eleven’ – Cameron, Royal Scottish National Orchestra/Mauceri
In his liner note introduction to these stand-alone concert works Danny Elfman asks the question so often asked, namely why it is that audiences for movie music and classical music concerts are so markedly different when from…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Das Lied von Der Erde – Larsson, Skelton, Düsseldorfer Symphoniker/Fischer
Adam Fischer’s fascinating (if slightly eccentric) liner notes speak of the words of Das Lied von Der Erde being almost incidental to the mood, of the music being significantly more important than the texts that inspired it.…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – May 2019
I was a little late to the party in respect of Vladimir Jurowski’s scintillating new recording of the original 1877 version of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake with the State Academic Symphony Orchestra of Russia (Yevgeny Svetlanov’s orchestra) but…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Richard Rodney Bennett Orchestral Works Vol. 3 – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Wilson
As each instalment of John Wilson’s recorded tribute to his friend and mentor Richard Rodney Bennett is revealed the realisation (to those of us who didn’t already know) that this extraordinarily complete musician could do absolutely anything…
GRAMOPHONE: André Previn – A Tribute
‘You’ve kept those of us who grew up in the same years feeling young; you’ve kept those older than you correctly infuriated, and you’ve been a lighthouse of consistency…We depend on you and love you and trust…
GRAMOPHONE: From Where I Sit – April 2019
Last month’s comprehensive celebration of Riccardo Chailly (not least his four decades at Decca) has prompted me to reflect on a number of personal encounters and to think again about the very particular qualities that make this…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Mahler Symphony No. 7 – Budapest Festival Orchestra/Fischer
I honestly can’t remember hearing a performance of this extraordinary symphony which was so plainly in love with its ethos, its originality, its sonority. Ivan Fischer reads ‘the small print’ of the score with such thoroughness that…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 6 & 7, Etc. – Boston Symphony Orchestra/Nelsons
We’ve come to expect a clear-sighted brilliance and technical excellence from this series. It’s become something of a benchmark in that respect. The Tenth Symphony arrived like a whirlwind to kick things off and there have been…
