This collection of more than 50 portraits painted by Francis Bacon is certainly intense – although perhaps not for the reasons one might have expected. Some of Bacon’s most famous and celebrated canvases show extremes of violence and distortion: the full-on body horror of the early figures at the crucifixion, or the melting abyss of…
Category: review
Thirst class: ‘The Elixir of Love’, English National Opera, London
ENO’s new production of ‘The Elixir of Love’ is a witty and affectionate take on Donizetti’s comic romance, beautifully realised and performed. On entering the auditorium of the Coliseum, you immediately notice something a little out of the ordinary. Instead of the normal safety curtain, a big screen spans the stage, showing a stylised drawing…
Pianist Joanna Kacperek produces a captivating album with ‘Variations’
With ‘Variations’, pianist, Joanna Kacperek, has chosen to focus on the humble variation. Like many other composers before them and since, Beethoven, Robert and Clara Schumann, Brahms and Chopin, composed many variations. On this album, Kacperek artfully displays the creative possibilities of these variations, which were a way of exploring a theme for these composers,…
Odaline de la Martinez reflects upon her musical career and why she only gets depressed one day a year – if that!
Chachi – or Odaline de la Martinez in full – is a woman of many talents. The Cuban-born, musical polymath, was the first female composer to conduct at the Proms, in 1984. An energetic promoter of women composers and Latin American music, she is conducting at the 9th London Festival of American Music at the…
Passion players: Sasha Cooke & Malcolm Martineau, Wigmore Hall, London
Before this recital, I’d only had relatively few opportunities to hear mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke live. The first occasion was Handel’s ‘Orlando’ in concert at London’s Barbican in 2016, an evening of such brilliance, I still think about it often. Cooke gave a memorable performance as Medoro (alongside other favourites of mine, including Iestyn Davies and…
Bywater’s staging of Britten’s Turn of the Screw lifts the opera to new heights
Benjamin Britten’s opera, The Turn of the Screw, is a psychological thriller based on Henry James’s novella of the same title. In the world of opera, psychological thrillers are thin on the ground and for good reason – it is hard to express narrative ambiguity or uncertainty in musical theatre. Isabella Bywater’s production at English National Opera…
London Piano Festival 2024 at King’s Place celebrates Mozart and French female composers
The 2024 London Piano Festival opened with fanfare at King’s Place, London, as renowned pianists, Charles Owen, Katya Apekisheva and Lara Melda, performed Mozart’s Piano Concertos with the Carducci String Quartet* Apekisheva brought her intense concentration and intelligence to Mozart’s exquisite Concerto in A, K414, the Andante movement being particularly delicious! Charles Owen’s beaming countenance…
Cross bow: Sieben, ‘Brand New Dark Age’ – and more…
Matt Howden has now been writing, performing and recording under his ‘Sieben’ alias for nearly a quarter-century, and the fundamental recipe remains constant. Voice, violin and electronics. However, this apparently limited set-up has never been a constraint. On the contrary, it’s acted as a springboard for a relentlessly restless artist, allergic to repeating himself, hurtling…
ENO staging of ‘Suor Angelica’ recalls a dark time in Ireland’s female history
Suor Angelica is a rarely performed, one-act opera by Puccini. When played at all, it is often sandwiched together between two other short operas, Il Tabarro and Gianni Schicchi which probably explains why the work has been overlooked (Gianni Schicchi has tended to be favoured over the other two). Director of ENO, Annalise Miskimmon, was…
Explore Ambient Soundscapes in Resonating Earth
Resonating Earth, the new album from from American pianist Carolyn Enger, was created in response to the climate crisis and emerged from her deep connection to nature and her dedication to environmental activism. Enger lives in a wooden house outside Manhattan, a building which creates a wonderful chamber in which the sound of her seven-foot…
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