http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/?service=Rss http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-tsarinas-slippers-royal-opera-house-london-brcecilia-bartoliil-giardino-armonico-barbican-hall-london-1830349.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-tsarinas-slippers-royal-opera-house-london-brcecilia-bartoliil-giardino-armonico-barbican-hall-london-1830349.html <p> For some women, it starts with ballet shoes. For others, it's the gleam of patent Mary Janes. In my case, it was a pair of silver stilettos, carefully preserved by my grandmother since the 1950s. </p> Reviews Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schumann-dvorak-piano-concertos-pentatone-1831070.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schumann-dvorak-piano-concertos-pentatone-1831070.html ]]> <p>Martin Helmchen delivers a refreshing performance of Schumann and Dvorak's piano concertos.</p> Reviews Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-satie-works-for-two-and-four-hands-kml-1831076.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-satie-works-for-two-and-four-hands-kml-1831076.html ]]> <p>Tiered cakes, pears and desiccated embryos.</p> Reviews Sun, 29 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/handel-messiah-english-national-opera-1830272.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/handel-messiah-english-national-opera-1830272.html <p> Messiah has always been about the communal experience, the shared tradition – especially at Christmas. We dutifully stand for the “Hallelujah!” chorus, feeling but perhaps not really understanding the release it brings, and why. </p> Reviews Sat, 28 Nov 2009 12:40:12 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/messiah-eno--independent-special-offer-1829247.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/messiah-eno--independent-special-offer-1829247.html ]]> <p> Enter the promo code <b>MHSMS </b>when prompted </p> News Fri, 27 Nov 2009 11:55:28 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-faryl-wonderland-decca-1828334.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-faryl-wonderland-decca-1828334.html <p>For her second album, the young mezzo-soprano has tried to develop an overall theme, loosely based around Alice In Wonderland, though listeners may struggle to discern a trace of it.</p> Reviews Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-leif-ove-andsnes-mussorgsky-pictures-at-an-exhibitionschumann-kinderszenen-emi-classics-1828337.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-leif-ove-andsnes-mussorgsky-pictures-at-an-exhibitionschumann-kinderszenen-emi-classics-1828337.html <p>Though lacking an important element when separated from the visual settings devised by artist Robin Rhodes, Leif Ove Andsnes' performance here has much to recommend it. There's his delicate, fluttering touch, almost like a hammer dulcimer, on the "Samuel Goldenberg and Schmuyle" section, and particularly the way the gossipy, chattering tone of "Limoges – Le Marche" is sustained until it founders on the funereal opening chords of the "Catacombs", in whose sombre progress can be glimpsed the promenading art-lover himself. </p> Reviews Fri, 27 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/cecilia-bartoliil-giardino-armonico-barbican-hall-1827151.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/cecilia-bartoliil-giardino-armonico-barbican-hall-1827151.html <p> Cecilia Bartoli’s latest album and road show – "Sacrificium – La scuola dei castrati" – comes courtesy of an era characterised by the unkindest cuts of all. The composers' names are all but forgotten but those of the genitally compromised superstars are not. We have heard only simulations of the kind of sound these surgically adjusted males could produce but from all the documentary evidence it was bigger and more pungent than the undeniably engaging Bartoli is apt to produce. But where she does share a certain kinship with the castrati is in her ability to make a three-course meal of second-rate music. The album, the concert, was choc full of it. </p> Reviews Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:26:17 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/free-podcast-vasily-petrenkos-shostakovich-project-at-the-royal-liverpool-philharmonic-orchestra-1826188.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/free-podcast-vasily-petrenkos-shostakovich-project-at-the-royal-liverpool-philharmonic-orchestra-1826188.html ]]> <p> The charismatic St. Petersburg-born Vasily Petrenko has really been turning things around at the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra since he took over as Principal Conductor in 2005. </p> Features Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:42:49 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/tchaikovsky-the-tsarinarsquos-slippers-royal-opera-house-london-1826182.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/tchaikovsky-the-tsarinarsquos-slippers-royal-opera-house-london-1826182.html <p> The words Tchaikovsky and Comedy don’t usually occur in the same sentence – and you may still be of that opinion after sitting through this expensively gift-wrapped but decidedly bland and singularly unfunny staging of the composer’s big-hearted Gogol adaptation. </p> Reviews Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:19:38 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/rumpelstiltskin-cbso-centre-birmingham-brswanhunter-howard-assembly-room-leeds-1825237.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/rumpelstiltskin-cbso-centre-birmingham-brswanhunter-howard-assembly-room-leeds-1825237.html <p> Commissioned by Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Rumpelstiltskin is the third of David Sawer's works to explore greed. In From Morning to Midnight (2001), Georg Kaiser's bored bank-clerk unravelled to the accompaniment of whirring bicycle wheels, buzzing flies and vomiting prostitutes. </p> Reviews Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-caccini-dindia-monteverdi-etc-la-voce-di-orfeo-naiumlve-1825790.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-caccini-dindia-monteverdi-etc-la-voce-di-orfeo-naiumlve-1825790.html ]]> <p>Sung by Furio Zanasi and played by the viol, harp and lute trio La Chimera, this recital is both a portrait of the poet, composer and singer Francesco Rasi (1574-1621) and a study of the different "amatory conditions" of Baroque song.</p> Reviews Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-quintet-in-c-etc--belcea-quartet-emi-1825795.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-schubert-quintet-in-c-etc--belcea-quartet-emi-1825795.html ]]> <p>If all you want is a strong performance of "Death and the Maiden", you will have a hard time choosing between the Belcea Quartet's latest recording and last year's release from the Jerusalem Quartet.</p> Reviews Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/tchaikovsky-the-tsarinarsquos-slippers-royal-opera-house-1825198.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/tchaikovsky-the-tsarinarsquos-slippers-royal-opera-house-1825198.html <p> The words Tchaikovsky and Comedy don’t usually occur in the same sentence – and you may still be of that opinion after sitting through this expensively gift-wrapped but decidedly bland and singularly unfunny staging of the composer’s big-hearted Gogol adaptation. </p> Reviews Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:07:58 +0000 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/ballet-and-opera--the-odd-couple-1823711.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/ballet-and-opera--the-odd-couple-1823711.html ]]> <p>It's not that the loos at the Royal Opera House are necessarily an ideal barometer of public taste, but attending Wagner's Tristan und Isolde recently, I had a startling experience: it was the only time I have ever noticed a longer queue for the men's room than the women's. But, a few days later, in the interval of a dress rehearsal for the ballet The Sleeping Beauty, there was barely a man in sight. Opera and ballet audiences don't often mix, and it's not only about gender. How many people at each show, I wonder, would have ventured into the other?</p> Features Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:01 +0000 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-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/features/observations-ryuichi-sakamotos-unchained-melodies-1823829.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/observations-ryuichi-sakamotos-unchained-melodies-1823829.html <p> "I am just trying to avoid being a slave to the old musical system," says Ryuichi Sakamoto of his new CD, Out of Noise. "I was doing that when I was 18, but then came a long detour into pop and film music. I now want to get back to my roots." And the world's most eccentric singer-songwriter gives a self-deprecating laugh: that detour included modelling for Gap, playing a sadistic prison guard opposite David Bowie, co-starring with Madonna in the video for Rain, and composing the music for a long list of feature films, including Shirin Neshat's 2009 Women Without Men. </p> Features 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/news/great-composer-shame-he-couldnt-play-1824125.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/great-composer-shame-he-couldnt-play-1824125.html ]]> <p>He is one of the world's most eminent composers, who cemented his reputation at the vanguard of the English Romantic movement with compositions such as the <i>Enigma Variations</i> and the <i>Pomp and Circumstance </i>marches.</p> News 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/features/exclusive-independent-offer-cheap-eno-tickets-1818624.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/exclusive-independent-offer-cheap-eno-tickets-1818624.html ]]> <p> Daniel Kramer’s remarkable new production of Bartók’s haunting opera, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle. </p> Features Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:29:11 +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/features/free-podcast-the-bernstein-project-at-southbank-centre-1817969.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/free-podcast-the-bernstein-project-at-southbank-centre-1817969.html ]]> <p> Listen to the famed icon’s daughter Jamie Bernstein speak about her father, Leonard Bernstein, with Independent Classical correspondent Edward Seckerson in this podcast specially commissioned for Southbank Centre’s The Bernstein Project. </p> Features Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:46:32 +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/features/michael-church-brilliance-and-brainlessness-at-eno-1817609.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/michael-church-brilliance-and-brainlessness-at-eno-1817609.html <p> To see the revival of David McVicar’s fabulous ‘Turn of the Screw’ (left) is to be reminded just how good English National Opera can be when it sticks to its metier: getting brilliant directors to give tried and trusted classics a new and original twist, with singers who understand how to work as an ensemble. </p> Features Mon, 09 Nov 2009 14:41:06 +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/news/edward-seckerson-the-age-of-aquarius-dawns-again-1813412.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/edward-seckerson-the-age-of-aquarius-dawns-again-1813412.html <p> It's been pretty scary returning from the Big Apple eager to share one's excitement over the glorious revival of the 'American Tribal Love-Rock Musical' "HAIR" and finding yourself confronted with a series of puzzled faces - "What's 'Hair'?" </p> News Mon, 02 Nov 2009 11:42:00 +0000