Monday, 18 April 2016

Interpreting Mahler 9th - Bernard Haitink

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In a career spanning over 60 years,  much of which was spent with one of the great Mahler orchestras , Bernard Haitink has probably cond...
Saturday, 16 April 2016

Erotic Ralph Vaughan Williams - Fair Child of Beauty

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Ralph Vaughan Williams : Fair Child of Beauty , the latest release from Albion Records, the recording label of the Ralph Vaughan Williams...
Friday, 15 April 2016

Rattle Messiaen Bruckner LSO Couleurs de la cité céleste

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Sir Simon Rattle conducted Messiaen and Bruckner with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Hall, London.  Rattle's love for...
Thursday, 14 April 2016

Sir Henry Wood, radical : New Music at the Proms

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How deep must the malaise in BBC Radio 3 and the Proms go, if it's suggested that "revolution" only came in with Willi...
Wednesday, 13 April 2016

Not pizzazz but pizza : BBC Proms 2016

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Generated by machine? The BBC Proms 2016 season just announced might well have been designed by algorithm. Once,the Proms meant pizzazz....
Tuesday, 12 April 2016

Not the usual Brahms German Requiem - ENO chorus

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The ENO Chorus will be doing Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem (A German Requiem ) in three churches around London on 15th, 16th and 29th A...
Monday, 11 April 2016

Dennis Hopper naked - Night Tide

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Night Tide (1961) a Hollywood B movie so beautifully made, so quirky and so original it should be recognized as art. It stars Dennis Hop...
Saturday, 9 April 2016

Les Illuminations illuminated - Aldeburgh Festival 2016

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 Britten's Les Illuminations - illuminated! This year's Aldeburgh Festival starts with typically provocative panache.  Les illum...
Friday, 8 April 2016

Donizetti is Dangerous : Lucia di Lammermoor ROH

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The Royal Opera House was right to warn audiences about Donizetti Lucia di Lammermoor .  Donizetti is dangerous. In his time, the glass ...
Thursday, 7 April 2016

Francophobe Frenzy, or Thomas Hardy on Brexit

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With the Panama Papers and Brexit hanging upon us, consider Thomas Hardy's poem The Sergeant's Song and its setting  Rollicum-ro...
Wednesday, 6 April 2016

Mixed augury : Royal Opera House 2016-2017

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The Royal Opera House 2016-2017 season, announced today, poses questions. Where can the House go, pinched as it is by the pincer movemen...
Tuesday, 5 April 2016

Benjamin Appl Heine Lieder : Stunden, Tage, Ewigkeiten

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First solo recording from Benjamin Appl is now out. In fifty years of listening  to Lieder, I've  followed many singers right from th...
Sunday, 3 April 2016

Nicholas Collon CBSO Mahler 10 Webern Brahms

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Nicholas Collon conducted the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in Mahler 's Symphony no 10, or to put it more accurately Deryc...
Saturday, 2 April 2016

New from Opera Rara - Gounod La Colombe, Donizetti Le Duc d'Albe

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Latest recordings from Opera Rara - Gounod La Colombe and Donizetti Le Duc d'Albe.  Read a full and detailed review HERE IN OPERA TO...
Thursday, 31 March 2016

Ollie and George Benjamin's Dream of the Song

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Ollie and George: powerhouse pair! George Benjamin's Dream of the Song , given its UK premiere by Oliver Knussen and the BBCSO at t...