Category: Review
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Listening for What Comes Next at Britten Sinfoniaâs Composer Showcase
If you want to know where British composition is heading, schemes like Britten Sinfonia’s Opus 1 and Magnum Opus offer a compelling snapshot.
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Review – Ethel Smythâs The Forest & Respighiâs Lucrezia / GSMD
A performance of two halves: early moralistic Smyth followed by Respighiâs theatrical setting of a brutal tragedy.
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Review – Britten Weekend at Snape Maltings
Britten Weekend 2025 traced music refusal to be destroyed. What emerged wasnât nostalgia or indulgence but a promise to remember. Not everything was executed as perfectly as it might have been, but maybe perfection isn’t the goal.
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Review – The Rolling Year – Hannah French
In a culture hooked on doom narratives about classical musicâs decline, French reminds us that attention itself is the radical act.
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Review – Tim Horton plays Chopin at Wigmore Hall
Tim Horton at Wigmore Hall: precision, warmth and wit in a programme that moves from Bachâs architecture to Chopinâs abandon.
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Review – London Philharmonic Orchestra play Stravinskyâs Rite
L Boulanger Dâun matin de printemps L Boulanger Faust et HĂ©lĂšne Stravinsky The Rite of Spring Karina Canellakis conductorVĂ©ronique Gens soprano Andrew Staples tenor Jean-SĂ©bastien Bou baritone Lili Boulangerâs Dâun matin de printemps is a taut evocative excursion. Her writing works hard, pedalling furiously from scene to scene, transitions marked by Canellakis with elegant hesitations realised by a responsive woodwind section.…
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Review – Manchester Camerata with Jack Sheen at Wigmore Hall
Manchester Camerata make a welcome return to London with an all-too-short but exquisite exploration of early-twentieth-century and contemporary song, showing composers revelling in the creative possibilities of rigorously applied concision.
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Clare Hammond – Tippett, Britten and Walton
Clare Hammondâs new recording with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and George Vass invites us into a world of invention, warmth, and wit brought into focus by a pianist whose hallmark is clarity without coldness.
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Review – RLPO and Timothy Ridout premiere Mark Simpsonâs âHold Your Heart in Your Teethâ
From whispered strings to bone-shaking organ, RLPOâs season opener turned sound into spectacle. This was a night of courage, surprise and orchestral force.
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Review – Insula Orchestra play Bruchâs Concerto for Clarinet and Viola and Beethoven 5
GĂ©nisson and da Silva bring warmth to Bruchâs compact Concerto for Clarinet and Viola, before Equilbeyâs Insula Orchestra deliver a spirited Beethoven 5, in this season opener at La Seine Musicale in Paris.