This Sunday afternoon recital promised to be a true rarity. In all the time I’ve been going to Wigmore Hall – in fact, attending art song concerts anywhere – I’ve never knowingly seen Messiaen’s ‘Harawi’ programmed. Recordings also seem relatively scarce, with a handful of mentions on the esteemed Presto Music website, and some of…
Category: review
Pianist Olga Chelova offers a unique interpretation of Chopin’s Études
‘In this recording, Chelova takes a strikingly personal and philosophical approach to these pieces: here, she seeks not just to perform, but to reinterpret the very meaning of the étude.’
Through the fire and flood: ‘Siegfried’ and ‘The Turn of the Screw’, Royal Ballet & Opera
From fights to frights at the RBO, as I managed to escape from reality there twice in a week: first to see ‘Siegfried’, the third instalment in Barrie Kosky’s ongoing Ring cycle for the company. While we’re talking very narrow margins, ‘Siegfried’ has tended to be my least favourite of the four Ring operas. I’ve…
Shostakovich’s 7th Symphony – music for war and resistance
This week it was off to the Philharmonie de Paris, a state-of-the-art concert hall in the north-eastern periphery of the French capital. Paris may be my second home, but this was my first visit to this musical institution designed by the architect Jean Nouvel. Opened in 2015, after a six year wait, there was a lot…
24 Preludes for Piano by Nicholas Scott-Burt
Da-Hee Kim piano Premiere recording Listen to the opening measures of the sixth Prelude from Nicholas Scott-Burt’s 24 Preludes for Piano, and you might be forgiven for thinking this is actually by J S Bach, with its combination of rigour and elegance, counterpoint and Baroque flourishes. The ghost of Bach is also present in the…
Tracks of my tears: Fretwork with Ian Bostridge & Elizabeth Kenny, ‘John Dowland’s Lachrimaes’, Milton Court, London
2026 marks the 400th anniversary of John Dowland’s death. Although it’s an appropriately melancholy milestone, one can only rejoice if it prompts more beautiful concerts like this one throughout the year. I confess that I’m frequently wary of the idea that the worth of music, art or literature from the past rests on its ‘relevance’…
De Profundis – Charles Owen, piano
Playing of poetry, intelligence and quiet authority in Charles Owen’s new release De Profundis
Queasy listening: ‘Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny’, English National Opera, London
The city of Mahagonny rose and fell three times in the space of a week in ENO’s recent ‘blink-and-you’ll-miss-it’ production. Fortunately, enough people did notice and the entire run sold out – so I am glad to have made it to the closing night. This uncompromising, scathing satire from Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht tells…
Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte in Coney Island
Cosi Fan Tutte premiered a year before Mozart’s death in 1791. It’s probably one of our most popular operas today, largely due, but not exclusively, to its exquisitely crafted arias, which Mozart produces one after another for his female singers. I attended opening night of Cosi at English National Opera with mixed feelings however. I…
Opera for Everyone: Debunking the elitism myth
By examining the changing perception of opera over the past century – cultural, political and social – Wilson’s book demonstrates that opera has never gone truly out of fashion. It remains popular in its many guises – from country-house opera at Glyndebourne to cheap or free tickets for under-30s and students, and opera in pubs or other non-standard venues.
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