Listening in not-quite-darkness, with only the dim light from my bedside clock radio, I hear An Ending (Ascent) by that master of the ambient, Brian Eno. Of course I recognise it, but not quite in this arrangement. The sounds wash gently over me and in the dark and still of the night, it’s intimate and…
ENO Riding High with Wagner’s Valkyrie
Opening night at the English National Opera’s Valkyrie and the auditorium was full. The excitement was palpable and understandable – it was ENO’s first stab at Wagner in fifteen years. I was thrilled to be able to attend such a landmark event and all credit to ENO for going ahead with the Valkyrie project. Wagner operas are a rarity in…
Stephen Hough Releases Chopin’s Nocturnes
As winter approaches why do classical music lovers tend to whip out the nocturnes? Chopin’s nocturnes conjure up cosy evenings by the fire, home concerts, cigars and cognac. When I was a child, record covers of Chopin, certainly propagated this image. This is probably why Chopin’s music seems accessible, approachable. A little too accessible at…
Album release: Georgia Train, ‘Needles & Pinches’
Here is a singer-songwriter confessional that blasts new energy into the genre. Violently resistant to any cliché, the entire album walks a tightrope between the accessible and avant-garde: unflinching, uncompromising and ultimately unforgettable. Georgia Train has already built up a rich back catalogue. I first heard her music as one half of duo Bitter Ruin…
Hogarth and Europe. A rewarding show at Tate Britain
Hogarth’s ‘Marriage-A-La-Mode 2 – The Tête à Tête 1743 I am always happy to revisit Hogarth’s work. His irreverent paintings and prints seem more alive today in our age of political correctness. Hogarth and Europe at Tate Britain contains sixty Hogarth works, some of them new to the…
Orchestra of the Swan Glides into Old Street
It’s Thursday night and the bars and pubs in Shoreditch are lit up and pumping out music into the cold November air. I have come to an album launch of Stratford-Upon Avon-based Orchestra of the Swan. It’s an edgy venue at Kachett, under the railway arches in Old Street. Half of the musicians have travelled up to London…
Poussin and the Dance at the National Gallery, London
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) A thought-provoking exhibition which offers a different view of Poussin’s early work in Rome and displays his paintings in a sympathetic and joyous environment. Guest review by Sarah Mulvey Detail from a Bacchanalian Revel Before a Term, ca.1632-33, London, National Gallery I am spellbound before Poussin’s painting of the Adoration of the Golden Calf in the…
Two of US: Lucas Meachem & Irina Meachem, ‘Shall We Gather’
This is a big, bold, beautiful beast of an album: a concept recital that uses song to grapple with belonging, community and how those noble aims align with what it means to be American. Let me say at the outset that this is a bravura performance by both singer and pianist. This may be a…
Much to admire in Philip Glass’s Satyagraha at ENO
In the past fifty years, avant-garde thinker, artist, composer, Philip Glass, has notched up thirty operas, three more than the prolific Verdi. It’s an amazing achievement for a contemporary living composer and there is no doubt that Glass’s minimalist scores have done much to break open the opera genre. It is only fitting therefore that…
Igor Gryshyn Touches the Divine with his Scriabin Sonata
I discovered German-Ukranian pianist Igor Gryshyn, listening to soprano Olena Tokar sing on her album Charmes. Gryshyn accompanied her and the focus was clearly on the very talented Tokar. Gryshyn’s solo album Transitions has followed and reveals his own brilliance, and love for composers, Viktor Kosenko (1896-1938); his 11 Études to be precise, and the better-known Alexander Scriabin,…
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