This is a thrilling hour in the company of two artists who perform as if this music is flowing through their veins as well as their heritage. ‘Alma’ shines a spotlight on 20th-century repertoire mostly from Latin America, alongside a smaller selection from Spain and Portugal. Although, as the liner notes tell us, some of…
Schubert Piano Sonata in A D959 & Moments Musicaux – Steven Osborne, piano
In his latest release, pianist Steven Osborne pairs Schubert’s penultimate piano sonata with the Moments Musicaux in a fine recording which makes a most satisfying “recital album”. ‘Who can do anything after Beethoven?’ the 31-year-old Franz Schubert wrote to a friend. Yet, in the last year of his life, he wrote three extraordinary piano sonatas,…
Graphic content: François Berthoud’s posters for Opernhaus Zürich
A real ‘picture post’ from me here. Our recent visit to Opernhaus Zürich coincided with an exhibition of the memorable posters designed for the company by illustrator François Berthoud over the last 13 years. Each poster features an image of a single item linked to the work in question – on some the connection is…
Darkness divisible: ‘L’Orfeo’ and ‘Elias’, Opernhaus Zürich
Our recent Swiss holiday closed with a lightning visit to Opernhaus Zürich, to catch two performances in one day: a matinée of Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’, followed by a staged version of Mendelssohn’s ‘Elias’ (or ‘Elijah’). Both were rewarding experiences. I had never seen a production of ‘L’Orfeo’ before (a rather important omission, now happily rectified) and…
Unveiling Hidden Treasures: Thomas Pitfield’s Piano Music
Thomas Pitfield Piano Music Duncan Honeybourne, piano Pianist Duncan Honeybourne, indefatigable champion of lesser-known and rarely-performed British piano music, brings another gem to wider attention with his recent recording of music by Thomas Pitfield (Heritage Records, March 2025). Born in Bolton, Lancashire, in 1901, Thomas Pitfield was a polymath: a poet, artist, engraver, calligrapher, master…
‘Merry Widow’ on target despite mafioso misfire
When Franz Lehar’s Merry Widow premiered in Vienna in 1905 it was an instant hit. Its catchy score had men whistling it in the street. Women of all ages and class, swayed to the Merry Widow Waltz imagining themselves in the arms of the Merry Widow’s dashing romantic lead, Danilo. Audiences also loved the central character,…
Opera Holland Park enters new waters with Wagner’s ‘Flying Dutchman’
This season Opera Holland Park has had a first stab at Wagner with The Flying Dutchman, this work being a doable two and a half hours as opposed to the usual four. The legend of a Dutch sea-captain, condemned to sail the ocean forever, until he finds the love of a good, faithful, woman, was…
A Beautiful Thread: Thomas Hardy’s Words and Music in Dorset
Stinsford church, near Dorchester in Dorset, just a short distance from Thomas Hardy’s birthplace at Upper Bockhampton, and the place where his heart is buried, provided the perfect setting for A Beautiful Thread, a new words and music concert concept from the ever-inventive Orchestra of the Swan (OOTS). Produced to coincide with the 150th anniversary…
Absence makes the art grow stronger: Bitter Ruin, ‘Arches & Enemies’
Bitter Ruin’s music, high wire and high octane, has always found the sweet spot between intimacy and impact. The duo – Georgia Train (vocals) and Ben Richards (instruments, vocals) – possess a kind of volatile creative chemistry that allowed their records to calm one minute, combust the next. Live, they really were stage animals, presenting…
Betrand Chamayou’s ‘Fragments’ – a tribute to Ravel
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…
ARTMUSELONDON 