In preparation for a public encounter with the astute and ever-enquiring Vladimir Jurowski on the subject of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen my mind goes back to the first time I saw the film of Patrice Chereau’s…
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…
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…
You would surely expect an Italian to tap into the heat and ardour of Tchaikovsky’s fate-fuelled Fourth Symphony – but ‘heavy and unyielding’ is all that I took away from Noseda’s decidedly unremarkable performance. A sternness prevails…
With last month’s focus on a new generation of pianists in mind I am prompted to think again about something that is not often discussed with regard to international concertising: namely, not just what these exceptional young…
I have often been asked if I listen to music differently when reviewing or not reviewing. It’s an interesting question. There is, you could say, a heightened level of awareness when ‘in working mode’. One listens in…
I always think that the opening bars of this war-torn essay suggest the flip side, the oppressively dark side, of the Fifth Symphony. No more ‘A Soviet artist’s reply to just criticism’, simply a Soviet artist’s outrage.…
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…
Bold local colours are pretty much a given for Petrushka with this orchestra and this conductor in this location. But the vividness and ‘authenticity’ (not a word I generally use) of the characterisation took even me a…
Anyone who thrilled (as I did) to Teodor Currentzis’ Tchaikovsky Pathetique will find distinct parallels here. The impulse, the imperative, of this Mahler 6 is extraordinary – a headlong ride to the abyss with every rhythm and…
