Reviews
Yo-Yo Ma remains quite easily one of the top five string players in the world and quite possibly the last surviving heavy-weight cellist of his generation. With the recent announcement of Lynn Harrell’s death, Yo-Yo Ma has no competitors alive. Put quite plainly he is the best. Mumbaikars turned
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Given the universal appeal the guitar holds, it is hardly surprising that it has so many avatars, with a vast range of amplitude and repertoire to match. Having gained the status of symbol (of youth, freedom, la dolce vita, what have you..), as much as instrument, the quietest member of
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Parma in northern Italy nestled in the region of Emilia-Romagna is a well kept secret among Italians. Famous for its architecture, art, music, ham, cheese and surrounding countryside it is also home to one of the oldest universities in the world. What is less known is that every year in
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DAY ONE The Volksoper at Währinger Straße is Vienna’s main stage for operetta musicals and ballet. Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán wrote their works brimming with world famous melodies for this theatre. On 17th September I saw the Stephen Sondheim musical Sweeney Todd - six Tony Awards winner
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DAY ONE Wednesday 19th September was a red letter day. I turned up well in time to take my seat in the orchestra stalls not knowing what to expect. At 8 o’clock sharp two men in full evening dress strode on to the stage and launched straight away into
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Russian State Symphony Orchestra/Valentin Uryupin Barry Douglas, piano Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake Suite Dmitri Shostakovich, Piano Concerto No. 2 Sergei Rachmaninoff, Symphony No. 2 14 October 2018 Usher Hall, Edinburgh The Usher Hall’s international orchestra season opened with a fine showcase of music by the great Russian
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The marvellous Italian mezzo Cecilia Bartoli produced and sang in this remarkable festive semi-staged performance of Rossini’s timeless comedy La Cenerentola. She started her career at the age of 19 with the music of Rossini and it is with this composer that her gifts are most closely allied. In
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Last but by no mean least was the turn of the London Philharmonic - a beautifully streamlined sound and a high level of musicality. This performance had a special glow to it not least because of conductor Marin Alsop’s mercurial direction. She chose her own arrangement of the Suite
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25th August 2018 saw the 100th birth anniversary of American composer, conductor and pianist Leonard Bernstein. The Boston Symphony Orchestra chose for their two successive Lucerne Festival concerts Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium and Mahler’s Third Symphony a composer much associated with him. The Serenade is scored for violin,
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It was now the turn for three evenings with the London Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle their new Music Director. I attended the first two of these evenings – Messiaen on the 9th and Ravel on the 10th. The first concert was shared with the Lucerne Festival
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A week into Beethovenfest, the magic has failed to subside. The air is still abuzz with excitement with concerts taking place regularly, providing much on offer for, and tailored to, the varied, musical inclined population of the city of Bonn, Ludwig van Beethoven’s birthplace. This time, we shift to
Reviews
After two successive evenings with the Royal Concertgebouw it was the turn of the Vienna Philharmonic. What great orchestras they both are but sounded very different in tone quality; the former with much warmth and gravitas, the latter more streamlined and brilliant. On the first night we heard Haydn’s