http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/?service=Rss 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 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/features/observations-thomas-arne-is-due-a-revival-after-166-years-1811321.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/observations-thomas-arne-is-due-a-revival-after-166-years-1811321.html ]]> <p>"Rule, Britannia!" is one of the most familiar tunes in Britain, but whatever happened to its composer? This season marks the tricentenary of Thomas Arne, the compositional superstar of 18th-century Britain, yet now virtually forgotten beyond that one aria. To celebrate, the Royal Opera House is presenting his opera Artaxerxes which was premiered in the same spot in 1762, but has not been heard there (or in many other places) since 1843. </p> Features Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +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/features/eno-podcast-duke-bluebeards-castle-and-the-rite-of-spring-1809836.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/eno-podcast-duke-bluebeards-castle-and-the-rite-of-spring-1809836.html ]]> <p> Edward Seckerson talks to Duke Bluebeard's Castle director Daniel Kramer, The Rite of Spring director/choregrapher Michael Keegan-Dolan, and conductor Edward Gardner </p> Features Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:56:30 +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/art/features/the-diary-mark-wallinger-pink-floyd-royal-opera-house-john-ofarrell-1807169.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/the-diary-mark-wallinger-pink-floyd-royal-opera-house-john-ofarrell-1807169.html ]]> Features Fri, 23 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-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/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/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 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/michael-church-classical-music-has-no-anish-kapoor-thank-god-1805577.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/features/michael-church-classical-music-has-no-anish-kapoor-thank-god-1805577.html <p> Anyone wanting to take the pulse of the fine-art world in its present state should use the BBC’s watch-again facility to catch Stephen Sackur’s interview with Anish Kapoor in BBC World’s Hard Talk slot. </p> Features Mon, 19 Oct 2009 17:59:12 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/mccall-smith-makes-monkey-out-of-macbeth-1805227.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/news/mccall-smith-makes-monkey-out-of-macbeth-1805227.html ]]> <p>It was a shoe-string opera that re-cast the main players in Shakespeare's Macbeth as singing baboons, and enlisted amateurs to perform the drama in a tin-roofed garage in Botswana before an audience of 56 people.</p> News Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/turandot-coliseum-londonbrthe-adventures-of-mr-broucek-grand-theatre-leedsbrmanchester-camerata-bridgewater-hall-manchester-1804630.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/turandot-coliseum-londonbrthe-adventures-of-mr-broucek-grand-theatre-leedsbrmanchester-camerata-bridgewater-hall-manchester-1804630.html <p> Set in the dining room of the Imperial Palace restaurant, Rupert Goold's English National Opera production of Turandot is unlikely to endear him to Chinese caterers. </p> Reviews Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bach-partitasandras-schiff-ecm-new-series-1805035.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-bach-partitasandras-schiff-ecm-new-series-1805035.html ]]> <p>Twenty-five years after his first recording of Bach's Partitas, Schiff returns to these works with new ideas, some seemingly informed by his directing of the Brandenburg Concertos from the keyboard. </p> Reviews Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-brahms-symphony--no-1variations-channel-classics-1805039.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-brahms-symphony--no-1variations-channel-classics-1805039.html ]]> <p>Lest there be any confusion over how Ivan Fischer views Brahms, this disc begins with his highly spiced, string orchestra arrangement of Hungarian Dance No 14. </p> Reviews Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-truth-about-love-linbury-studio-theatre-royal-opera-house-1803949.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/the-truth-about-love-linbury-studio-theatre-royal-opera-house-1803949.html <p> Four talented Jette Parker Young Artists, three song cycles, one very familiar canvas – life, love, loss. The devisor and director of this somewhat overcooked confection, Jose Dario Innella, subtitled it "Dramatic ruminations over Schumann, Britten, and Ebel song cycles" and therein lay the problem: too much rumination. Directed to within an inch of its life, the title – <i>The Truth About Love </i>- is drawn from the most familiar of Britten’s Cabaret Songs whose stanzas are scattered like discarded one-liners throughout the evening </p> Reviews Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:42:11 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/orchestra-of-the-age-of-enlightenment-nezetseguin-queen-elizabeth-hall-1803894.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/orchestra-of-the-age-of-enlightenment-nezetseguin-queen-elizabeth-hall-1803894.html <p> The biggest “surprise” of this splendid Haydn bicentennial celebration turned out to be the earlier start time. The rude <i>fortissimo </i>chord which gives <i>Symphony No 94 </i>its nickname was sounding on TV monitors throughout the Queen Elizabeth Hall foyer as this commentator arrived in good time for a 7.30 start. But even the tinny sound and poor image of the latecomers monitor gave one an immediate sense of the charm and exuberance that conductor Yannick Nezet-Seguin was already eliciting from the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And there would be plenty of surprises where that first one came from. </p> Reviews Fri, 16 Oct 2009 11:38:39 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-ludovico-einaudi-nightbook-decca-1803348.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-ludovico-einaudi-nightbook-decca-1803348.html <p> Ludovico Einaudi occupies the often disparaged space that used to be the preserve of new-age music, situated midway between classical music's studied restraint and pop's eager melodicism. </p> Reviews Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:15 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/album-terry-riley-in-c-sony-classical-1803344.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/album-terry-riley-in-c-sony-classical-1803344.html <p> Reissued to celebrate its 40th anniversary, Terry Riley's <i>In C</i> not only remains one of the keystone works of minimalism, but – unlike many pieces in that style – has actually grown in stature: what was once considered a strange experiment now stands as a landmark of 20th century music. </p> Classical Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-mandelring-quartett-shostakovich-complete-string-quartets-vol-5-audite-1803345.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/album-mandelring-quartett-shostakovich-complete-string-quartets-vol-5-audite-1803345.html <p> The final instalment of thequartet's sequence of Shostakovich string quartets brings together the 11th, 13th and 15th, pieces linked by their etiolated, elegiac tone. </p> Reviews Thu, 15 Oct 2009 17:48:23 +0100 http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/hallelder-bridgewater-hall-manchester-1801695.html http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/classical/reviews/hallelder-bridgewater-hall-manchester-1801695.html ]]> <p>It's taken 104 years for Vaughan Williams's Heroic Elegy and Triumphal Epilogue to have its first fully professional outing. Composed in 1901 when he was still virtually unknown, and with no clues left as to its inspiration, the score is headed with a quote from the Bible's Song of Solomon, "Terrible as an army with banners". The first movement, Heroic Elegy, begins with an uneasily insistent string motif, over which a meandering theme is introduced on trombones then horns. The brass worries away at this material until a blazing climax is followed by a threatening timpani ostinato and suggestions of a martial violence are finally subdued with an eerie quietness.</p> Reviews Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:00:01 +0100