Commissioned by the 1957 BBC Light Music Festival, Sidney Torch’s London Transport Suite is a little bit of whimsy. Although not approaching the wit of Gerard Hoffnung’s legendary concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, it is certainly fun....
Verdi, Aida: Soloists, Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor). Metropolitan Opera, New York, 4.1.2025. (RP) Production: Production – Michael Mayer Set designer – Christine Jones Costume...
Humperdinck, Hänsel und Gretel: Oldenburg State Theatre Soloists. Children’s & Youth Chorus, Oldenburg State Orchestra / Eric Staiger (conductor). Oldenburg, 27.12.2024. (DM-D) Production: Director – Michael Moxham Set and costume...
Scottish Ballet’s The Nutcracker: Dancers of Scottish Ballet, Scottish Ballet Orchestra / Daniel Parkinson (conductor). Edinburgh Festival Theatre, 8.1.2025. (SRT) Production: Music – Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Original Choreography –...
In the audio-visual world, they have a name for the phenomenon depicted above – where rival platforms repeatedly increase their prices, inspiring their competitors to do the same. They call it streamflation. – Music Business Worldwide
Armonico Consort/Monks (Signum) Armonico Consort continues to rehabilitate the reputation of overlooked Scarlatti family member Francesco in this uneven but dramatic choral piece The Scarlatti family was a major force in...
Osborne/London PO/Gardner (LPO) Edward Gardner conducts first-rate performances of two rarely recorded works, bringing Tippett’s musical language into sharp focus The completion in 1952 of The Midsummer Marriage, his first opera, had...
The music of IOSIS (musician, composer and sound designer Alex Bissen) is built upon the foundational forms and textures found.. The post ListN Up Playlist: IOSIS (Alex Bissen) (January 9, 2025) appeared first on I CARE IF YOU LISTEN .
BOOK REVIEW – In his book We Are Music, the polymath John Sharpley grapples with the meaning of this timeless and pervasive medium of expression. The multicultural embrace of his process is essentially an invitation to examine who we are...
“How can we reconcile the apparently gung-ho socialist sentiments expressed in Symphonies No. 3 and 4 with the bitter disillusionment and sarcasm that explode in Symphonies No. 13 and 14? Should the issue of Shostakovich’s...
As the classical music world celebrates his centenary, musicians tell us why the French iconoclast remains a towering figure, and his music still casts a spell Composer, conductor, polemicist and iconoclast Pierre Boulez was born 100...
It is not often that I come across an album pitched as a blend of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, 1980s thrash metal,.. The post Dan Román and Cuarteto Latinoamericano Craft Kaleidoscopic, Minimalist Puzzles on “DXVNS” appeared first on I...
Rihm, Bruckner: Vida Miknevičūite (soprano), Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra / Simone Young (conductor). Livestreamed from the Berlin Philharmonie on 7.12.2024 and available on the Digital Concert Hall. (GT) Wolfgang Rihm – Das Gehege...
He has an explanation: “People feel trapped. If you go to an art gallery and there is a picture you don’t like, you can just move away, but if you are in a concert and sitting in the middle of a row, people are polite and won’t walk...
Certainly the story is operatic: two people with traumatic childhoods meet on a cruise ship, fall in love, develop a successful magic act, and become the biggest act in Las Vegas until one of them is killed by their favorite tiger. Luke...
The rising star of the British Kanneh-Mason family offers vigorous Chopin, serene Liszt and a stirring spiritual at the trusty Tiny Desk upright piano.
Paul Pinto has two biographies. There’s the formal bio that comes with his electronic press kit, which eloquently lays out.. The post On “Water Music” from Paul Pinto, The Recording Studio is An Essential Instrument appeared...
The liner notes remind the listener that as “A mystic realm tinged with the scent of foreign spices, bewitching music, vivid colour and sensual delights…Orientalism sparked a new wave of romanticism in Western art in the 19th century.”...
DIGITAL REVIEW – Over the course of its 30 tracks, augmented by texts and printed program, the Brabant Ensemble’s new recording, A Monk’s Life, unfolds as a luminous and intriguing biography of a nameless monk in late-Renaissance...
The ongoing vinyl revival, which was perhaps truly minted in 2017, when Sony Music announced it would begin producing vinyl records for the first time since 1989, has been fantastic for music fans and musicians alike. But it comes at a...
“The original organ mechanisms from the 1920s were made of hair sheep leather imported from England. They have been replaced with new hair sheep leather.” – San Diego Union-Tribune (MSN)
Just … wow: “The neo-payola promotional schemes; the minuscule royalties paid to artists, not to mention the royalty-free ‘ghost artists’; the designation of huge swaths of artists as royalty-ineligible ‘hobbyists’; the...
Barbican, London The young players delivered atmospheric Ravel, edge-of-seat Nielsen and powerful Thorvaldsdottir with full force The National Youth Orchestra clearly lucked out when it bagged charismatic conductor Jaime Martín. The...
Over the past two decades the Finnish pianist Juho Pohjonen has become a highly sought-after chamber music collaborator in concert and on disc. He also is a commanding and masterful solo artist. His penchant for combining Rameau and...
The founder of the Seattle Bach Festival: “In our postpandemic reality, there is so much to do in the rebuilding of community bonds, and music is a very powerful and healing way to do that.” – Seattle Times
Celebrated British musician reveals close encounters with unhappy concert-goers on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs The celebrated and controversial British composer Mark-Anthony Turnage says he has faced up to the fact that modern...
Donizetti, La fille du régiment: Soloists, Chorus and Orchestra of Bayerische Staatsoper / Stefano Montanari (conductor). Nationaltheater, Munich, 31.12.2024. (ALL) Production: Director – Damiano Michieletto Settings – Paolo Fantin...
La Scala per Puccini: Jonas Kaufmann, Luciano Ganci (tenors), Anna Netrebko, Mariangela Sicilia (soprano), James Vaughan (piano). Filmed (directed by Stefania Grimaldi) at La Scala, Milan, 29.11.2024 and available on ARTE Concert until...
Conductor Andrew Litton talks to Geoffrey Newman Born in New York City in 1959, Andrew Litton is currently Music Director of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. Litton shot to international attention in his mid-twenties after winning the...
KOLA (Keep On Listening Awards) 2024 A Czech Celebration Novák: Concentus Biilugus (for Piano Four-Hands and String Orchestra); Choreae Vernales (for Flute, String Orchestra, Harp and Celesta); Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra. Dora...
ALDA (Avoid Like Death Awards) 2024 The White Scarf of Irredeemable Chutzpah Recipients: Stravinsky: Petrushka Debussy: Jeux; Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun Orchestre de Paris, Klaus Mäkelä (cond.) Decca Tchaikovsky: Symphonies Nos....
Just what the lore was behind Arnold Bax's Legend for viola and piano, is uncertain. It may be some tale from Ireland, so beloved by the composer. Or maybe from the dark forests of Scandinavia. Then again it could be the moors and...
NEW YORK – Required of a good Aida are lavish pageantry and strong voices. This politically aware production, dotted with modern explorers, offers spectacle but some uneven singing. Yet with more performances, the show could reach its...
Hyperion already has excellent recordings of both of these concertos, from Demidenko (Medtner) and Hough (Rachmaninov), but as they saying goes, “greatness is its own justification,” and this is a great disc. At eighty-two...