Exaltation from the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir fit for a King

Hymn of the Forests was the programme title for what was really a celebration of events earlier in the day down the road at Westminster Abbey.  There was certainly much…

A compelling and ravishing Gurrelieder from Edward Gardner and the LPO

Just an hour before this performance of Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder I had been sitting through a recital of Philip Glass’s piano Études. In one sense this was much better preparation for…

Dramas of darkness and light: a stunning Bluebeard and sunny Haydn from the LPO and Gardner

In 1911, 30-year-old Béla Bartók began work on an instructive edition of seventeen of Haydn’s Piano Sonatas.  Between February and September that year, he also composed his first and only…

Edward Gardner conducts a magnificent The Midsummer Marriage to open his first season at the LPO

The last time I heard Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage was when I reviewed Graham Vick’s 1996 Covent Garden production.  Visually spectacular – that vast Stockhausen-like globe, split open temple…

A fresh look at Winter Words as ‘Summer at Snape’ continues

It may not have been possible for Snape Maltings to host the Aldeburgh Festival this year or last, but the Maltings have not been silent and the Summer at Snape…