The Proms season began with a curious mélange that was neither a bang nor a whimper. Its festive spirit was duly acknowledged with the Birthday Fanfare for Sir Henry Wood…
Category: Recitals/Concerts
A Tremendous Salome Closes Pappano’s First Season with the LSO
Mahler, Ravel and Schoenberg all agreed that Richard Strauss’s Salome was amongst his greatest works and in a performance as compelling as this one it would have been almost convincing…
Two Impressive Song Recitals at Aldeburgh Festival
I caught up with two recitals during the festival’s final week; the first, Melodies and Lieder, explored French and German approaches to love, nature and what the next world may…
BBC Singers in Spectacular Form at the Aldeburgh Festival
Peace on earth in troubled times could have been a heading for this text-laden programme of mostly a cappella 20th century choral music. One expects a few challenging works from…
Britten to Boulez at the Aldeburgh Festival – Two Standout Concerts
“No one likes us, we don’t care” cheer the supporters of Millwall Football Club – words that might just as well belong to Pierre Boulez and his followers. It’s certainly…
A journey through space and time with Benjamin Appl
Schubert’s Winterreise is listed under the catalogue number D911 as part of the Deutsch-Verzeichnis, the method by which all his works are uniquely identified. More often than not, this sole…
Monteverdi Choir and Masaaki Suzuki at St Martin-in-the-Fields
Making his debut with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Masaaki Suzuki directed an all-Bach concert celebrating the 300th anniversary of five works (four cantatas and a Sinfonia) written in…
Sin, death and love: English sonnets with David Butt Philip
If you want an intellectual challenge, then power your way through the sonnets of John Donne, the leading exemplar of the school of Metaphysical Poets, as I and many other…
Enchantresses: Sandrine Piau at Wigmore Hall
Sandrine Piau’s recent Alpha disc (also Enchantresses) was mostly re-enacted in front of us (with a signing afterwards) for this remarkable concert at Wigmore Hall. The instrumental group used was…
An Evening With Loudoun Lyric Opera Brings Art Song to Loudoun County
As part of their Midsummer Opera Dream festival this year, Canto Vocal Programs collaborated for the first time in its ten-year history with Loudoun Lyric Opera on an art song…