Reviews
A concert at the Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford is, at least for this reviewer, never just a concert at the Sheldonian. Woven into the Sheldonian’s tapestries are the stuff of legend; blending with its paintings are picture windows framing the gleaming, sunburnt walls of Oxford’s architectural treasures. This
Reviews
The Théâtre des Champs Elysées Paris has, to its credit, revived the 17th century tradition of operas in concert version, where the orchestra appear on stage and the singers are allocated limited space in front of them, with few or no props. However, this demands an even higher standard of
Reviews
Concert-going often involves a spot of sleuthing – what, if anything, links diverse works in a programme? Kristjan Järvi’s concert with the MDR Symphony Orchestra on June 11 at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, appeared to be underpinned by geographical links to Leipzig. For the first work, a transcription for full orchestra
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Oper Leipzig’s staging of Puccini’s 1903 opera Madama Butterfly proved yet again how effectively theatre can enhance music, with imaginative sets, good casting and extremely good acting. The story is (almost too) familiar: a US Navy officer, Benjamin Franklin (!) Pinkerton, hungry to ‘make his own/the flowers of
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A prelude to his appointment as Gewandhauskapellmeister this autumn, Andris Nelsons’ 2nd June concert with the Gewandhaus Orchestra at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, had all its familiar magic. That he continues to hold his Music Directorship at the Boston Symphony Orchestra in parallel, allows for fruitful musical cross-fertilisation, an example of
Reviews
The highlight of the 19 May concert performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden under the direction of Christian Thielemann at the Theatre de Champs Elysées, Paris, was undoubtedly Renée Fleming’s rendition of Strauss’s Four Last Songs. It took on a special poignancy because Ms Fleming is in the process
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Even the second time around this year, Helene Grimaud’s Acqua (Water) concert felt new to the ear, as though refreshed by a spritz of fresh insights. The pieces in the programme are almost all thematically related to water, and intricately interconnected: Luciano Berio’s Wasserklavier was inspired by a
Reviews
Ton Koopman’s version of Handel’s Messiah at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, was rather different from the ones typically heard all over the Anglo-Saxon world; and it was unusual enough to prompt some detailed research into the musicology of what most classical music lovers think of
Reviews
This concert series should have an attached disclaimer: it’s a series that is based on some of the songs sung by the original three tenors – Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras – whose current singers are Carlo Napolitano, Gian Carlo Polizzy and Emil Alekperov, all of whom have moved
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Arabella was born in ambiguity, in very many senses. It was conceived in an uneasy collaboration between Richard Strauss and his longtime librettist, the Austrian poet and philosopher Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Unhappy with the panning of their previous opera (Die ägyptische Helena) by the press because of the heavy
Reviews
There are some concerts that take listeners through more than just their own lives, to the universality of all lives lived. Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s extremely intense performance of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony had precisely this effect, one which was fully in consonance with its composer’s
Reviews
Andris Nelsons and the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s concert of Wagner (Overture to Tannhauser and Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde) and Bruckner (3rd Symphony) at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, provided as much food for thought as it did of emotion. The emotional intensity of their performance of the Wagner was