Vaughan Williams’ three greatest symphonies in chronological sequence and at the heart of this extraordinary Prom – even better in realisation than on paper – the ineffable Romanza of the Fifth: haunted by one war, fearful of…
George Stiles and Anthony Drewe’s Soho Cinders could hardly be lodged closer to Old Compton Street than if it were actually “on location”. Dean Street’s Soho Theatre is fast emerging as the neighborhood watering hole for new…
For those of us who have always regarded The Apostles as the least of Elgar’s great trilogy of religious oratorios the magnificence of Mark Elder’s Hallé performance will have coaxed if not demanded re-evaluation. The Albert Hall…
Pace the naysayers (and there are still many of them): Bernstein’s Mass IS a masterpiece. But it’s also a theatre piece and what unfolded here at this inexplicably belated Prom premiere (inexplicable because if ever there was…
Jerry Herman’s shows have always been sold as bigger and brasher than in fact they are. His two big hits – Mame and Hello Dolly – will have had something to do with that – their big-sell,…
On the evidence of the series so far I doubt anyone was expecting Stravinsky’s favourite Beethoven Symphony – the 8th – to spring from the starting blocks with the kind of propulsive dynamism implicit in the composer’s…
Beginning and ending in C major – but only just (Sibelius’ 7th Symphony is the most equivocal C major in music) – this BBC Philharmonic Prom under their new Chief Conductor Juanjo Mena began by reasserting that…
Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady belongs in that select group of perfect musicals where pretty much every choice, every decision, every song placement simply cannot be disputed. The time-lapsing build to “The Rain in Spain” is…
It is the most resplendent of vocal fanfares that brings Otello to the stage in Verdi’s wonderful opera and Aleksandrs Antonenko – the latest in a most distinguished lineage (including Vickers and Domingo) to have strode into…
Behind poster images of iconic black crusaders – from Nelson Mandela to Steve Biko – the township that is Catfish Row is revving up for another day. And such is the pumping dynamism of the Cape Town…