http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-joyce-didonato-rossini-colbran-the-muse-virgin-classics-1823718.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-joyce-didonato-rossini-colbran-the-muse-virgin-classics-1823718.html <p>If Angela Gheorghiu is the pre-eminent Puccini interpreter of her era, then Joyce DiDonato surely lays confident claim to the equivalent position regarding Rossini, a status cemented in unorthodox manner this year when, despite breaking her leg on the opening night, she completed the five-night run in The Barber Of Seville at Covent Garden. </p> Reviews Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-olli-mustonen-beethoven-piano-concertos-nos-4--5-ondine-1823721.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-olli-mustonen-beethoven-piano-concertos-nos-4--5-ondine-1823721.html <p>Though not quite reaching the sublime heights of Evgeny Kissin's interpretations in last year's issue of the complete Beethoven Piano Concertos with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO, Finnish pianist Olli Mustonen displays consummate skill in these renderings of the 4th and 5th Concertos – especially impressive. </p> Reviews Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-the-priests-harmony-epic-1823722.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-the-priests-harmony-epic-1823722.html <p>Having already released the fastest-selling classical debut album of all time, we were never going to have to wait too long for the follow-up, just in time for Christmas. </p> Reviews Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/allen-toussaint-and-the-blind-boys-of-alabama-the-london-jazz-festival-barbican-london-1823611.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/allen-toussaint-and-the-blind-boys-of-alabama-the-london-jazz-festival-barbican-london-1823611.html <p> Dixieland descended upon the London Jazz Festival yesterday and transformed the Barbican into a New Orleans gospel church for one night only. </p> Reviews Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:33:51 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/london-philharmonic-orchestra-jurowski-royal-festival-hall-london-1823608.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/london-philharmonic-orchestra-jurowski-royal-festival-hall-london-1823608.html <p> This way in to the labyrinth of the South Bank’s Alfred Schnittke Festival: Between Two Worlds. Vladimir Jurowski, our guide, should be commended for devising such a clever programme and for furthermore providing an intriguing context for the compositions of this style-tripping musical maverick. </p> Reviews Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:27:38 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/opera-north-werther-the-lowry-salford-1823093.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/opera-north-werther-the-lowry-salford-1823093.html <p>With no chorus and no sweeping large-scale orchestral effects, much in Werther rests on the unerring and idiomatic portrayal of the two main characters at the intimate heart of Massenet's lyrical masterpiece. In Alice Coote and Paul Nilon, Opera North has found the near-perfect central couple for its compelling new production.</p> Reviews Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/sonny-rollins-barbican-london-1821548.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/sonny-rollins-barbican-london-1821548.html ]]> <p> The legendary Sonny Rollins played to a sell out Barbican last night. At 79-years old he’s outlived the other players that shaped the jazz genre, yet when we spoke he was philosophically flippant about the thought of death. </p> Reviews Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:13:00 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/robert-glasper-with-bilal-and-stonephace-southbank-centre-london-1821546.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/robert-glasper-with-bilal-and-stonephace-southbank-centre-london-1821546.html <p> You get the feeling that this evening was an attempt to be ‘hip’. If this was the case it limped in the awkward way the person who did the bill might have said it, or need a new one at least. </p> Reviews Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:11:14 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bryn-terfel-bad-boys-royal-festival-hall-london-1821235.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bryn-terfel-bad-boys-royal-festival-hall-london-1821235.html ]]> <p> Bryn Terfel arrived in the capital armed with countless sneers and as many ways to make mischief. His latest album, Bad Boys – a comprehensive gallery of operatic rogues and villains – was now a tour, and there was a big, glossy, souvenir programme to prove it. </p> Reviews Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:02 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/duke-bluebeards-castle-coliseum-londonbrrerite-bargehouse-london-1820742.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/duke-bluebeards-castle-coliseum-londonbrrerite-bargehouse-london-1820742.html ]]> <p> In her book Bluebeard's Legacy: Death and Secrets from Bartók to Hitchcock, Victoria Anderson quotes a brief exchange from Jane Campion's film In the Cut. Shocked by her students' boredom with the subtleties of To the Lighthouse, a professor obsessed by a serial killer asks, "How many dead women does it take to make a good story?" At least three, is the answer. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:58 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-die-schone-mullerin-orchid-classics-1820772.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-die-schone-mullerin-orchid-classics-1820772.html ]]> <p> James Gilchrist and Anna Tilbrook’s reading of Schubert’s earlier song cycle is more conventional than Padmore and Lewis’s <i>Winterreise</i>. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:55 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-winterreise-harmonia-mundi-1820771.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-winterreise-harmonia-mundi-1820771.html ]]> <p> There is an interesting reversal of roles in the first release of Mark Padmore and Paul Lewis’s series of Schubert song cycles for HM. </p> Reviews Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:18 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-alberto-veronesi-placido-domingo-violeta-urmana-puccini-ritrovato-deutsche-grammophon-1819500.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-alberto-veronesi-placido-domingo-violeta-urmana-puccini-ritrovato-deutsche-grammophon-1819500.html <p> Echoing the recent trend for classical music played with authentic period instrumentation, Alberto Veronesi here presents a series of Puccini arias and orchestral pieces according to the original versions premiered by the composer. Thus, do we get to hear "Con Onor Muore", Cio-Cio-San's ritual suicide from Madama Butterfly, in a form unheard since the 1904 premiere, and "Sola, Perduta, Abbandonata!" from Manon Lescaut in the original 1893 manner. Though largely of academic interest, it's all skilfully rendered. </p> <p> <b>Download this:</b> Sia Benedetto il Giorno; Sola, Perduta, Abbandonata! </p> Reviews Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:36 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-yannick-nezetseguin-ravel-daphnis-et-chloe-suite-no-2-emi-classics-1819499.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-yannick-nezetseguin-ravel-daphnis-et-chloe-suite-no-2-emi-classics-1819499.html <p> The young French-Canadian conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin proves particularly adept here at extracting the maximum impact from a series of Ravel waltzes and "miniatures", most notably the second suite from Daphnis et Chloé. The lushly rendered first movement's evocative sunrise music is simply gorgeous, with glimmers of cello leading to a glorious orchestral sunburst, tailing into wistfully pastoral oboe, while there are traces of the eastern flavour of the Bolero discernible in the second movement's flute arabesques and underscoring harp arpeggios. </p> <p> <b>Download this:</b> Daphnis et Chloé Suite No 2 </p> Reviews Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:17 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-nikolaus-harnoncourt-gershwin-porgy-amp-bess-rca-red-seal-1819498.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-nikolaus-harnoncourt-gershwin-porgy-amp-bess-rca-red-seal-1819498.html <p> Gershwin's celebrated "folk opera" has, through copious truncation, come to be regarded more as a musical than an opera – an attitude which Nikolaus Harnoncourt is at pains to redress in this vast 3CD presentation done with a vibrantly expressive cast led by Jonathan Lemalu and Isabelle Kabatu in the title roles. It's an exuberant experience, with all the emblematic arias handled perfectly, while Harnoncourt's exacting attention to detail comes through in countless small but telling ways, such as the use of authentic African drums (as per Gershwin's intentions) rather than bongos in the "Symphony of Noise" opening dawnscape of the final scene. </p> <p> <b>Download this:</b> Summertime; It Ain't Necessarily So; 'Bess, You Is My Woman Now; Symphony of Noise </p> Reviews Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bryn-terfel-bad-boys-royal-festival-hall-1819250.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bryn-terfel-bad-boys-royal-festival-hall-1819250.html <p> Bryn Terfel arrived in the capital armed with countless sneers and as many ways to make mischief. His latest album <i>Bad Boys </i>– a comprehensive gallery of operatic rogues and villains – was now a tour, and there was a big, glossy, souvenir programme to prove it. But at least this latest participant in the South Bank's "International Voices" series offered value for money – the big Welshman doesn’t short-change us, not even when he's in the guise of that prize quack Dr Dulcamara whose lotions and potions are cheap for a reason. </p> Reviews Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:20:19 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/angela-gheorghiumarius-maneaphilharmonia-orchestra-royal-festival-hall-1818612.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/angela-gheorghiumarius-maneaphilharmonia-orchestra-royal-festival-hall-1818612.html <p> For anyone wondering what on earth the Overture to Leonard Bernstein's Candide was doing at the start of this bizarre, rag-bag of an evening (there seemed to be no rhyme or reason for its presence) might I suggest that the inference may have been that "in the best of all possible worlds" (to quote Voltaire) Angela Gheorghiu would have been singing more than two (yes, two) arias in the official programme with two more tired old chestnuts added as encores. </p> Reviews Wed, 11 Nov 2009 11:55:47 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/les-arts-florissants-union-chapel-islington-1817613.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/les-arts-florissants-union-chapel-islington-1817613.html <p> Of all the ensembles celebrating an anniversary this year, William Christie and Les Arts Florissants - now toasting three decades of ground-breaking experiment - have most reason to congratulate themselves. Thirty years ago, when they embarked on their still-ongoing project to bring French Baroque music into focus, they were tilling virgin territory; if it’s now all flowers and fruit trees, that’s largely thanks to them. Moving on from Charpentier (who gave them their name) to Purcell, Handel, and Haydn, they have continued their quest: hats off to the Barbican, which - in collaboration with the Salle Pleyel and the Cite de la Musique - has commissioned their lap of honour this autumn. </p> Reviews Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:45:23 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/artaxerxes-linbury-studio-londonbrsmith-quartetaxelsson-wigmore-hall-londonbrlondon-sinfoniettabang-on-a-canreich-royal-festival-hall-londonbrroyal-liverpool-philharmonicpetrenko-philharmonic-hall-liverpool-1816765.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/artaxerxes-linbury-studio-londonbrsmith-quartetaxelsson-wigmore-hall-londonbrlondon-sinfoniettabang-on-a-canreich-royal-festival-hall-londonbrroyal-liverpool-philharmonicpetrenko-philharmonic-hall-liverpool-1816765.html ]]> <p>Forty years ago, had you asked a child to name a work by Thomas Arne, they would likely have answered "Where the bee sucks, there suck I". Along with "Nymphs and Shepherds", "The Raggle-Taggle Gypsies" and "The Drunken Sailor", Arne's jaunty Shakespeare song was once the stuff of damp afternoons, rheumatic radiators, shrivelled conkers and scraped knees. These days, schools sing a medley of "Kids in America" and "Karma Chame-leon", and all that remains of Arne is "Rule, Britannia!". Which makes a Royal Opera House production of Artaxerxes an unusual proposition.</p> Reviews Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-rossini-colbran-the-muse-virgin-classics-1816806.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-rossini-colbran-the-muse-virgin-classics-1816806.html ]]> <p> Joyce Di Donato's Colbran, the Muse follows much the same recital-as-biography format as Cecilia Bartoli's Maria Malibran disc,though the arias are exclusively by Rossini and the orchestra is exclusively modern instruments.There are some gems here– a touching reading of Desdemona's prayer, "Dehcalma, o ciel, nel sonno" from Otello, and a cameo appearance from tenor Lawrence Brownlee –but Di Donato's sweet, sincere voice is pushed too hard in the furious finale of Armida and Edoardo Müller's conducting is bland. </p> Reviews Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-haydn-violin-concerto-no-1symphonies-48--80-harmonia-mundi-1816810.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-haydn-violin-concerto-no-1symphonies-48--80-harmonia-mundi-1816810.html ]]> <p> Freiburger Barockorchester's storm through twoof Haydn's most startling symphonies. No. 49, "LaPassione", is held as a prime example of Sturmund Drang, though No. 80more than equals it interms of contrastingsonorities, styles andtextures, from the ländlerinterruptions of the first movement to the proto-Beethovenian harmonies of the menuetto. Played by Gottfried van der Goltz, the First Violin Concerto is a temperate oasis. If the disclacks the dewy radiance of"Le Matin", "Le Midi" and"Le Soir", it is still dynamic. </p> Reviews Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bartok-duke-bluebeards-castle--stravinsky-the-rite-of-spring--english-national-opera-london-coliseum-1816757.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/bartok-duke-bluebeards-castle--stravinsky-the-rite-of-spring--english-national-opera-london-coliseum-1816757.html <p> Nature and nurture - and all the dark and unexpected places in between. Some - Duke Bluebeard's cellar - you may never want to return to; others might invoke smiles, even laughter. English National Opera's audacious double-bill turns expectation on its head and springs so many surprises that to write about it at all - and it isn't an easy event to capture in words - runs the risk of giving the entire game-plan away. So stop reading now if you want to keep that element of surprise intact and know that the five-star rating has as much to do with vision as accomplishment. It isn't a perfect evening - the dance half is controversial to say the least - but you come out of each "event" feeling, well, just about everything. </p> Reviews Sat, 07 Nov 2009 12:27:02 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-cappella-amsterdam-sweelinck-psaumes-francais--canciones-sacrae-harmonia-mundi-1815517.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-cappella-amsterdam-sweelinck-psaumes-francais--canciones-sacrae-harmonia-mundi-1815517.html <p>The outstanding Cappella Amsterdam choir turn their attention to their 16th-century homeboy Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, whose intricate vocal settings of both Catholic and Protestant psalms and motets are considered the crowning achievements of Franco-Flemish polyphony.</p> Reviews Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-patrick-hawes-fair-albion-visions-of-england-signum-classics-1815530.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-patrick-hawes-fair-albion-visions-of-england-signum-classics-1815530.html <p>Patrick Hawes is rather like the Piers Gough of British classical composers, firmly adhering to the tried and trusted values of an earlier era, notably the Anglican church and English landscape celebrated in these 15 pieces. Not that he's devoid of surprise: the soprano vocal of "Cantate Domino" is set to organ and baritone sax, a curious but effective contrast, while the sawing strings of The Raven Quartet on "Ascension" have just a hint of minimalism about them. But the sun-dappled contentment of his "Three Broadland Piano Preludes" and the tender, bosky pastoralism of "Fair Albion" itself are much more indicative of his leanings. </p> Reviews Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-sufjan-stevensosso-run-rabbit-run-asthmatic-kitty-1815532.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-sufjan-stevensosso-run-rabbit-run-asthmatic-kitty-1815532.html <p>Just a couple of weeks after his film soundtrack, The BQE, further proof that Sufjan Stevens is the most protean young talent of the new millennium arrives in the shape of Run Rabbit Run, on which his 2001 electronic concept album based on the Chinese zodiac, Enjoy Your Rabbit, is transposed for the string quartet Osso.</p> Reviews Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/arne-artaxerxes-royal-opera-in-the-linbury-studio-theatre-london-1814497.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/arne-artaxerxes-royal-opera-in-the-linbury-studio-theatre-london-1814497.html ]]> <p> Only in 18th century opera could a man/woman fitted up by his own father for a murder he did not commit be at one and the same time mourned and disowned by his father, sister, best friend, and lover. </p> Reviews Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:08:28 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/langridgenorrisdoric-quartet-wigmore-hall-london-1814494.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/langridgenorrisdoric-quartet-wigmore-hall-london-1814494.html ]]> <p> Philip Langridge may have lost his youthful glamour as Britten’s post-Pears tenor mouthpiece - presumably he doesn’t have that vital picture in the attic - but at 70 he’s still debonair. </p> Reviews Wed, 04 Nov 2009 11:06:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-turn-of-the-screw-britten-studio-snape-1812610.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-turn-of-the-screw-britten-studio-snape-1812610.html ]]> <p> The "soft, thick light" described in Old Suffolk, Henry James's memoir of his 1879 journey to Aldeburgh and seeing the submerged skyline of medieval Dunwich, hung low over Snape last weekend. </p> Reviews Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-haydn-die-schpfung-harmonia-mundi-1813029.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-haydn-die-schpfung-harmonia-mundi-1813029.html ]]> <p>There's a Fantasia quality to René Jacobs's recording of Die Schöpfung. The contrasts are searing, the speeds variously breakneck or indulgent, the colours almost absurdly intense.</p> Reviews Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-terry-riley-in-c-sony-1813034.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-terry-riley-in-c-sony-1813034.html ]]> <p>Less polished than Steve Reich's Music for 18 Musicians (1974), In C remains the most iconic example of early minimalism. As the liner notes for this digitally remastered 1968 Carnegie Hall recording say, the work is "a trip", its performers "a weird zoo".</p> Reviews Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/arne-artaxerxes--royal-opera-in-the-linbury-studio-theatre-london-1812587.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/arne-artaxerxes--royal-opera-in-the-linbury-studio-theatre-london-1812587.html <p> Only in 18th century opera could a man/woman fitted up by his own father for a murder he did not commit be at one and the same time mourned and disowned by his father, sister, best friend, and lover. </p> Reviews Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:13:59 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/albumsergei-rachmaninoff-rachmaninoff-plays-rachmaninoff-rca-red-seal-1811471.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/albumsergei-rachmaninoff-rachmaninoff-plays-rachmaninoff-rca-red-seal-1811471.html <p>"A superb new recording of Rachmaninoff playing his own works...," claims the cover. </p> Reviews Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bryn-terfel-bad-boys-deutsche-grammophon-1811474.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bryn-terfel-bad-boys-deutsche-grammophon-1811474.html <p>As a bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel regularly has to wear the metaphorical black hat in the standard operatic value-system, so this anthology of great bad-guy roles, from Iago and Mephistopheles to Sweeney Todd and Mack The Knife, is custom-built to showcase his dark, brooding qualities. </p> Reviews Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-karl-jenkins-stella-natalis-emi-classics-1811478.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-karl-jenkins-stella-natalis-emi-classics-1811478.html <p>Karl Jenkins' Christmas album is a two-part affair, his 12-song title suite followed by nine arrangements of traditional carols and spirituals from around the world such as "The First Noel", "Go Tell It On The Mountain", "Silent Night" and the infectiously staccato Burgundian song "Pat a Pan". </p> Reviews Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/janacek-jenufa-glyndebourne-on-tour-1811407.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/janacek-jenufa-glyndebourne-on-tour-1811407.html <p> The explosion of violence which almost halts Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s 1989 staging of Janacek’s Jenufa minutes before the final curtain still resonates in ways one cannot quite fathom and in this stonking revival for Glyndebourne on Tour it arrives with a heartbreaking inevitability that is genuinely shocking. </p> Reviews Thu, 29 Oct 2009 14:05:39 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-turn-of-the-screw-coliseum-london-1811077.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-turn-of-the-screw-coliseum-london-1811077.html ]]> <p>Britten's tersest, nastiest opera, written for a company of 13 musicians and five singers including two children, receives what must be the production of its lifetime in David McVicar's staging, conceived for the Mariinsky Theatre in 2006. ENO's unmissable revival adds to its X-ray of Victorian repression a cast that couldn't be bettered; and Sir Charles Mackerras creates an interpretation of equal transparency and tension.</p> Reviews Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-gershwinsrsquo-porgy-amp-bess-cape-town-opera-royal-festival-hall-london-1810227.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-gershwinsrsquo-porgy-amp-bess-cape-town-opera-royal-festival-hall-london-1810227.html ]]> <p> After Trevor Nunn’s futile attempt to turn The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess into a book and song musical how bracing to return to the through-sung original where only the whites get to speak – or rather are denied the gift of song. </p> Reviews Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:50:05 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-italian-girl-in-algiers-theatre-royal-glasgowbrflavio-britten-theatre-londonbrles-arts-florissants-lso-st-lukes-london-1808818.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-italian-girl-in-algiers-theatre-royal-glasgowbrflavio-britten-theatre-londonbrles-arts-florissants-lso-st-lukes-london-1808818.html <p>Oh, the flaring nostrils! Oh, the quivering lips! Oh, the suave arch of a spit-slicked alpha-male eyebrow in glorious, sweat-beaded close-up! Played and filmed live in a "green screen" television studio, with computer-generated backdrops mixed in on the video screen above, Colin McColl's exuberant New Zealand Opera/Scottish Opera co-production of The Italian Girl in Algiers plays tribute to that much-maligned medium, the bad soap opera. </p> Reviews Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-faur-le-jardin-closla-chanson-deve-zig-zag-1809313.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-faur-le-jardin-closla-chanson-deve-zig-zag-1809313.html ]]> <p> There are more opulent performances of Fauré but Karine Deshayes' clear, girlish tones lend this recital of the late song cycles wistful intimacy. </p> Reviews Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bach-cantatas-volume-13-soli-deo-gloria-1809321.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bach-cantatas-volume-13-soli-deo-gloria-1809321.html ]]> <p> The latest disc from John Eliot Gardiner's millennium Bach Pilgrimage finds the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists celebrating Advent in Köln and Lüneburg. </p> Reviews Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-gavin-bryars-the-church-closest-to-the-sea-delphian-1807212.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-gavin-bryars-the-church-closest-to-the-sea-delphian-1807212.html <p>Written for Mr McFall's Chamber following a chance meeting with the Scots ensemble's fellow bass-player, The Church Closest to the Sea favours the subterranean tones of double bass, tam-tam, bass drum and piano to furnish a brooding sensibility, like a relaxed but furtive stroll along the sea bed.</p> Reviews Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-murray-perahia-bach-partitas-1-5--6-sony-classical-1807216.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-murray-perahia-bach-partitas-1-5--6-sony-classical-1807216.html <p>The Partitas were originally devised as clavier-übung teaching aids, and rarely if ever performed in public until Mendelssohn revived Bach's reputation in the early 19th century. </p> Reviews Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-roberto-alagna-angela-gheorghiu-mascagni-lamico-fritz-deutsche-grammophon-1807221.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-roberto-alagna-angela-gheorghiu-mascagni-lamico-fritz-deutsche-grammophon-1807221.html <p>Irritated that some critics had attributed the astonishing breakthrough success of his Cavalleria Rusticana to the libretto, Pietro Mascagni decided to focus attention on the music of this follow-up by adopting the simple "wealthy landowner meets tenant's daughter, wealthy landowner marries tenant's daughter". Time has proved L'Amico Fritz a charming idyll, and provides a perfect vehicle for opera's golden couple Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu: the latter enchanting proceedings, sustained by Alberto Veronesi and cast. </p> Reviews Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/royal-academy-song-circle-oxford-lieder-festival-1807236.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/royal-academy-song-circle-oxford-lieder-festival-1807236.html <p> Mendelssohn’s cheer-leaders have spent his anniversary year desperately trying to convince the rest of us that his oratorios, symphonies, and concertos are unfairly-spurned masterpieces, but it hasn’t worked because - with a few shining exceptions - they are not. </p> Reviews Thu, 22 Oct 2009 16:42:42 +0100