classical
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Suite scandal: why Bach's wife cannot take credit for his cello masterworkA film detailing an Australian music professor’s theory that Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena composed one of his most famous works is causing a classical stir. Renowned cellist Steven Isserlis debunks the claim -
Arcadi Volodos review – virtuoso spinning heads, stillFrom fiery passages to moments of sublime quietness, the Russian pianist displayed the full range of his mercurial talent, writes Erica Jeal -
Finzi: Requiem da Camera, Vaughan Williams: An Oxford Elegy, etc CD review – hymns to the fallenReview Finzi: Requiem da Camera, Vaughan Williams: An Oxford Elegy, etc CD review – hymns to the fallen
4 / 5 starsGerald Finzi’s previously unrecorded Requiem da Camera is the highlight of this collection of first world war-themed compositions, writes Andrew Clements
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Wozzeck review – from poignancy to utter devastationConductor Donald Runnicles’ take on Berg’s complex opera was compelling, beautiful and powerfully claustrophobic, writes Kate Molleson -
La scala di seta: negotiating ladders, linguistics and lighting cuesGreg Eldridge and his fellow Jette Parker Young Artists are putting on Rossini’s farce La scala di seta at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Studio. With only four weeks to create a new production, he kept a rehearsal diary of the frantic pace
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Maria João Pires / Dumay / Meneses review – spooky eleganceHalloween-appropriate programming of the Ghost sonata was the centrepiece of a beguiling set of Beethoven piano trio chamber music, writes Martin Kettle
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Bach: Orchestral Suites review – Egarr’s chamber approach reaps rewardsAn intimate recording from the Academy of Ancient Music brings out the detail in Bach’s rhythms, writes Stephen Pritchard
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Brecon Baroque festival review – grave but graceful BachVarious venues, Brecon
Rachel Podger’s ensemble were well attuned to the cumulative powers of JS Bach, while Mahan Esfahani brought humanity on and off the stage, writes Rian Evans -
LSO/Harding review – bringing affirmative wordliness to Mahler’s NinthDaniel Harding’s death-defying approach held Mahler’s morbidity at bay, writes Martin Kettle
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Red Note/Orchestre d’Auvergne review – haunting and hard-hitting new soundsOn its 10th anniversary, the sound festival commemorated the first world war with three new works alongside an arresting, coolly delivered violin concerto, writes Kate Molleson
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RLPO/Petrenko – striking new Muhly, but shame about the acousticsNico Muhly’s Second Service was touching, and Vaughan Williams’s Serenade emerged unscathed, but the Strauss and Elgar were swallowed up by the cathedral’s echoing sound, writes Tim Ashley
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La scala di seta; La Cenerentola; Moses in Egypt – reviewFrom early to epic, Rossini’s irrepressible operas are currently everywhere, writes Fiona Maddocks
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Elgar: The Dream of Gerontius, Sea Pictures CD review – a disc of the yearStuart Skelton is up there with Philip Langridge in this exemplary recording, writes Fiona Maddocks
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Mozart, Schubert, Stravinsky: Piano Duos CD review – dizzy heights from two of the world’s greatest
Review Mozart, Schubert, Stravinsky: Piano Duos CD review – dizzy heights from two of the world’s greatest
5 / 5 starsMartha Argerich and Daniel Barenboim in a joint rectial? Yes, it’s pretty good, writes Nicholas Kenyon -
Oswald, Napoleão: Piano concertos CD review – distinct Romantic voicesOswald and Napoleão shared much in common but their music here is very different, writes Stephen Pritchard
reviews
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Brecon Baroque festival review – grave but graceful BachVarious venues, Brecon
Rachel Podger’s ensemble were well attuned to the cumulative powers of JS Bach, while Mahan Esfahani brought humanity on and off the stage, writes Rian Evans -
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LSO/Harding review – bringing affirmative wordliness to Mahler’s NinthDaniel Harding’s death-defying approach held Mahler’s morbidity at bay, writes Martin Kettle
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Red Note/Orchestre d’Auvergne review – haunting and hard-hitting new sounds
Classical music Red Note/Orchestre d’Auvergne review – haunting and hard-hitting new sounds
4 / 5 starsOn its 10th anniversary, the sound festival commemorated the first world war with three new works alongside an arresting, coolly delivered violin concerto, writes Kate Molleson -
RLPO/Petrenko – striking new Muhly, but shame about the acousticsNico Muhly’s Second Service was touching, and Vaughan Williams’s Serenade emerged unscathed, but the Strauss and Elgar were swallowed up by the cathedral’s echoing sound, writes Tim Ashley
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Arcadi Volodos review – virtuoso spinning heads, stillFrom fiery passages to moments of sublime quietness, the Russian pianist displayed the full range of his mercurial talent, writes Erica Jeal
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Maria João Pires / Dumay / Meneses review – spooky eleganceHalloween-appropriate programming of the Ghost sonata was the centrepiece of a beguiling set of Beethoven piano trio chamber music, writes Martin Kettle
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La scala di seta; La Cenerentola; Moses in Egypt – reviewFrom early to epic, Rossini’s irrepressible operas are currently everywhere, writes Fiona Maddocks
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Wozzeck review – from poignancy to utter devastationConductor Donald Runnicles’ take on Berg’s complex opera was compelling, beautiful and powerfully claustrophobic, writes Kate Molleson
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LSO/Haitink review - Brucknerian masteryAs always with Haitink, the orchestral textures were scrupulously balanced, writes Martin Kettle
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OAE/Roth review – rare airing of a George Onslow curio
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment OAE/Roth review – rare airing of a George Onslow curio
4 / 5 starsConductor François-Xavier Roth kept up his reputation for quirky programming with a fascinating but flawed symphony by the ‘French Beethoven’, writes Tim Ashley -
Simon Keenlyside/Emanuel Ax review – a poignant and powerful Winterreise
Classical music Simon Keenlyside/Emanuel Ax review – a poignant and powerful Winterreise
4 / 5 starsThe baritone drew on his actorly skills for Schubert’s song cycle, sensitively supported by Ax’s beautifully judged accompaniment, writes Martin Kettle -
The Turn of the Screw review – compelling, challenging and creepyJonathan Kent’s production of Britten’s ghost story is revived to haunting effect, with standout central performances from the children, writes Tim Ashley
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LSO/Pappano review – digging deep into powerful emotionsPappano brought nobility to a celebration of Panufnik and brilliantly evoked Strauss’s pride, anger and beauty, writes Tim Ashley
news
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Jodie Kidd brings story of love and slavery to the London stageVanessa Thorpe: Supermodel’s family revive operetta based on 17th-century story of American Indian slave
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BBC Radio 3 chief: I won’t be ‘dumbing down’ stationAlan Davey says station will not become more like Classic FM to address shrinking audience and will still offer ‘complex culture’
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Met Opera rejects antisemitism claims rising from Klinghoffer protestsDemonstrators to gather outside opera house to protest against John Adams opera about the murder of a Jewish holidaymaker by PLO
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Rudy Giuliani expected to join protest against Met's Klinghoffer operaProtesters accuse The Death of Klinghoffer, dramatises Jewish man’s killing by Palestinian guerrillas, of antisemitism
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BBC Radio 3 doesn’t score highly with Ed VaizeyMedia Monkey: Culture minister says he prefers the ‘absolutely brilliant’ Classic FM to its BBC rival because it is ‘accessible and informal’
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Australian opera company drops Carmen over smoking scenesDecision by West Australia Opera has left fans fuming, while PM Tony Abbott calls it ‘political correctness gone crazy’
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Classical music breaks out and joins the youth underground
Radiohead star Jonny Greenwood teams up with online channel to bring orchestral sounds to a new audience
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Rome Opera sacks 200 permanent members of orchestra and chorusManagement says outsourced musicians and singers will save millions of euros as economic crisis chokes state funding of arts
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Courtney Love to make her opera debut in New YorkLove ‘wanted to do something challenging’, so she has taken a role in a production at a ‘visionary opera-theatre’ festival
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BBC names Alan Davey as Radio 3 controllerArts Council chief executive, appointed after a six-month recruitment process, to succeed Roger Wright next year. By John Plunkett
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OperaUpClose to leave King's Head, Islington, for fresh challengesInnovative company that stretched boundaries of small-scale opera will build on links with Soho theatre and Coventry Belgrade, writes Imogen Tilden
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Conductor Christopher Hogwood dies aged 73One of the most influential exponents of the early music movement, Hogwood founded the Academy of Ancient Music
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Acclaimed violinist gives Washington second chance to appreciate cultureViolinist will return to perform in capital city’s metro after 2007 experiment failed to win subway audience’s attention
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Riccardo Muti severs ties with the Opera of RomeItalians dismayed as star conductor pulls out of two productions at company hit by strike threats and protests
talking points
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The Death of Klinghoffer live Q&A: director Tom Morris answers your questions – as it happenedThe director of the controversial opera, which opened on Monday to protests at the Met in New York, will be online at 1pm ET on Friday. Please post your questions now
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Readers recommend: songs that express excess – resultsClimbing over the top of a lavish superfluity of song nominations from last week’s topic, RR regular bluepeter picks his favourite examples of overkill
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quartet-lab: a string quartet who open your ears to new ways of listeningAt last night’s Wigmore Hall concert, quartet-lab created a framework within which anything was possible, permissible, and comprehensible.
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10 of the best: Classical music comedies and parodiesWe present an occasional and light-hearted series: a selection of 10 entirely subjectively chosen clips, this week representing our pick of classical music’s best parodies, comedies, and sketches
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Suite scandal: why Bach's wife cannot take credit for his cello masterworkA film detailing an Australian music professor’s theory that Bach’s second wife Anna Magdalena composed one of his most famous works is causing a classical stir. Renowned cellist Steven Isserlis debunks the claim
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Nat Nakasa: a South African in New York, years ahead of his timeNew musical work celebrates Nat Nakasa, a journalist who was exiled from South Africa and whose life ended suddenly in Harlem
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Haydn the opera composer - why are his stage works neglected?Haydn wrote 15 operas. Thanks to English Touring Opera, there’s a rare opportunity to see one of them this autumn.
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Readers recommend: songs that express excess
In music, performance or lyrics, it’s time to cross the line and truly define what is flamboyant, superfluous and OTT, says Peter Kimpton -
Readers recommend: songs about seduction – resultsFrom a confident Otis Redding to a straightforward AC/DC, RR regular Suzi swoons at this shortlist of songs to get you in the mood
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The 101 strangest records on Spotify: Alvin Lucier – Extended VoicesSometimes this column just features odd music. Sometimes – and this is one of those occasions – the music is also quite brilliant
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The Ulster Orchestra: facing extinctionThere’s only four weeks to save Northern Ireland’s only full-time professional orchestra
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James Rhodes needs your unloved and unplayed instruments
Well, not literally. Donate them to schools and help the Don’t Stop the Music campaign
Radio 3 offers a unique service; surely as many as possible should have access to it?