It’s almost ten years since French pianist Bertrand Chamayou recorded Ravel’s complete piano works, and now, in this the 150th anniversary year of Ravel’s birth, he has released an album which he calls “a modest contribution” to the “anniversary celebrations of a composer who has been my tireless companion since childhood”. ‘Fragments’ is a portrait…
Author: ArtMuseLondon
ArtMuseLondon is a site for reviews of art exhibitions and music in London, and general cultural musings, written by people with a keen interest and an honest, accessible approach.
Communicating Without Words, a Family Speciality
Great performances of chamber trios and quartets often rely on the special relationships of players who communicate without words. But brothers and sisters have a natural advantage, having learned music from childhood together. Body language, discreet nods and the composer’s own “dialogue” work best among groups of siblings. The Pascal Trio (father and two sons)…
Roman Rabinovich plays Goldberg Variations in a live stream at Wigmore Hall
The Goldberg Variations has done more to widen the circle of appreciation for classical music than perhaps any other musical work. It certainly gets the youth vote, and one can see why. Regarded as the holy grail for professional pianists, it’s been interpreted by many young, world-class, artists, often male, but not exclusively so –…
Active listening: The Necks, Cafe OTO, London
Dalston’s Cafe OTO hides in plain sight, tucked away from the main drag, the venue’s name invisible to the outside observer until their nose is almost pressed up against the chalkboard by the door. Intimate and somehow inscrutable – quite an achievement for a premises – it hosts a jaw-dropping variety of free jazz and…
‘The Rite of Spring’ in Strasbourg. Interview with conductor, Aziz Shokhakimov.
The Rite of Spring is probably the most exciting piece of orchestral music ever to have been written. Composed by Igor Stravinsky, and conceived originally as a ballet score, it first hit the stage in Paris in 1913 with Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes company. A riot famously erupted that first night at the Champs- Elysées theatre where…
Self taut: Barbara Hepworth ‘Strings’, Piano Nobile
I managed to see this exquisite exhibition with only a few days to spare: it closes on 2 May. If you are in the right place at the right time – Holland Park, London – I urge you to go if you can. For those of you who cannot get there, here is a brief…
Learning to Listen – a Lost Art Recovered
It’s funny how some random experiences can teach us important lessons in life. On an Air France flight across the Atlantic recently, I clapped on a new set of Bose wireless headphones and within minutes a stewardess was squeezing my shoulder. I looked up and saw her mouth flapping – but she made no sound….
The Cartier success story – the tale of three brothers
The Cartier show at the V&A is officially open and what a glittering show it promises to be! I haven’t been yet and before taking myself along to South Kensington, I have been perusing the pages of Cartier, a V&A publication, which accompanies the exhibition. The heavy tome is a catalogue of sumptuous jewellery that…
Song cycle: Carolyn Sampson & Joseph Middleton, ‘Schubert’s Four Seasons’
Carolyn Sampson deftly sidesteps that ‘difficult 103rd album’ syndrome, teaming up with regular duo partner Joseph Middleton on the remarkable ‘Schubert’s Four Seasons’ – a worthy successor to their first two releases dedicated to this composer, ‘A Soprano’s Schubertiade’ and ‘Elysium’. Followers of this team will be well aware of their gift for programming, and…
Playing Debussy on his Blüthner was a ‘head-spinning experience’
French pianist François Dumont has still not quite recovered from ‘the excitement, the anxiety’ of playing “Clair de Lune” on Debussy’s own Blüthner piano in a remote French museum. Dumont is one of the select few pianists ever allowed to touch the instrument, now fully restored and in mint condition. It was his credibility as…
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