SATURDAY 7TH AUGUST 2010 NATIONAL YOUTH ORCHESTRA/ BYCHKOV Royal Albert Hall Looking over the massed ranks of the National Youth Orchestra one might easily imagine that The Sorcerer’s Apprentice had worked some of his magic on the…
FRIDAY 6TH AUGUST 2010 PROM 27: HALLE ORCHESTRA/ ELDER (Royal Albert Hall) It was the second outing for a John Foulds piece in one week. But then it does tend to pour rather than rain at the…
TUESDAY 3RD AUGUST 2010 PROM 23: BBC SCOTTISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA/ RUNNICLES Royal Albert Hall Questions may be raised in the Scottish parliament about the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra bringing an all-English programme to the Proms (one dear…
SUNDAY 1ST AUGUST 2010 ORCHESTRA OF THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT/ RATTLE Royal Albert Hall A night of love; an hour or two of quiet revelations. As Simon Rattle and his period band – the Orchestra of the…
FRIDAY 23RD JULY 2010 PROM 9: BBC PHILHARMONIC/ SINAISKY Royal Albert Hall It’s the highlight of every “Last Night”, the nation’s unofficial National Anthem, but for its composer Hubert Parry Jerusalem has proved as much of a…
WEDNESDAY 21ST JULY 2010 PROM 6: BBC SO/ LEWIS/ BELOHLAVEK Royal Albert Hall The big occasion often brings out the best in the truly gifted and with so much riding on his much-anticipated Proms cycle of the…
MONDAY 19TH JULY 2010 PROM 4: RLPO/PETRENKO Royal Albert Hall The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra pulled off the not inconsiderable feat of acknowledging both the Schumann and Mahler anniversaries simultaneously with their Prom opener. Mahler’s highly suspect…
TUESDAY 13TH JULY 2010 RASCH “THE DUCHESS OF MALFI” English National Opera & Punchdrunk We journeyed to deepest docklands, a bewildered group of punters and members of the press clutching our precious tickets (all performances sold out…
SATURDAY 10TH JULY 2010 BERNSTEIN “MASS” Royal Festival Hall Mass is Leonard Bernstein’s most personal, most provocative piece. His daughter Jamie has described it as his “most Lennyish” piece – meaning that it knows no inhibition, that…
SUNDAY 4TH JULY 2010 MOZART “DON GIOVANNI” Glyndebourne Festival Opera The crushing first chord of the Overture plunges us into darkness – a sudden and scarifying blackout. Through the gloom of residual light we can just make…