A harrowing but very ‘human’ Winterreise from Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis at Wigmore Hall

There could really only be one work with which Mark Padmore would conclude this season residency at Wigmore Hall, a series forming his final solo recitals at the Hall, but…

Rouvali’s mighty and stereophonic ‘Resurrection’ closes his first season with the Philharmonia

The final concert of the Philhamonia Orchestra’s Spring-Summer season came to an end with that greatest of Mahler blockbuster symphonies, the choral ‘Resurrection’. It also marked the end of Santtu-Matias…

Il prigioniero: Pappano and the LSO give an exceptional performance of Luigi Dallapiccola’s opera of torture and Inquisition

When it comes to the style and essence of their music Ottorino Respighi and Luigi Dallapiccola really come from entirely different places.  Church Windows and Il prigioniero, heard side by…

Lise Davidsen and Freddie De Tommaso: voices of star quality in an exceptional recital

The last couple of times I have reviewed Lise Davidsen at the Barbican – who is beginning to feel at home in this hall as Birgit Nilsson once did at…

Kathryn Rudge sings an exquisite Sea Pictures beside Vasily Petrenko’s safe Mahler Sixth

The coupling of Elgar’s Sea Pictures and Mahler’s Sixth Symphony is not an obvious one. One tangible link is that Mahler conducted Sea Pictures in the final year of his…

Chelsea Opera Group present a superb Andrea Chénier at the Southbank

The 2022 summer opera season has been getting well and truly underway this week, with first nights at Opera Holland Park (Eugene Onegin) and Garsington (Orfeo), following Glyndebourne’s production of…

Apollo of the Arts: Lost Lamentations – a concert for connoisseurs at Winchester College Chapel

It’s rare these days to find a new vocal ensemble prepared to dip its toe in the water of Marian-themed repertoire that is virtually unknown.  Such is the case with…

Mark Padmore and Mitsuko Uchida bring darkness and dreams to Wigmore Hall

Mark Padmore continued his season-residency at Wigmore Hall with a programme of lieder by Beethoven and Schubert.  In the latter’s ‘Ihr Bild’, one of the Heine settings in Schwanengesang, the…

Laurence Equilbey and the Insula orchestra bring a very ‘human’ Fidelio to the Barbican Hall

Sometimes, less really is more.  Such was confirmed by this powerful and affecting concert performance at the Barbican Hall of Beethoven’s lone opera, Fidelio, by Laurence Equilbey’s Paris-based Insula orchestra…

Zipangu and Lonely Child: Two Claude Vivier masterpieces in magnificent performances by the London Sinfonietta

The Quebquois-born composer Claude Vivier – still largely neglected, despite many of his works having an almost fearless intensity entirely relevant for today – was the subject of a rare…