Renée lives in Essex and is a PhD student in Philosophy. She loves all sorts of classical and non-classical music, but has a particular love for Dmitri Shostakovich. She is in charge of the Heavy Symphonic playlist at Dutch classical music site 24classics and blogs here.
The Warsaw Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra offered a program of Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Their performance at Cadogan Hall had outstanding moments but overall felt unremarkable.
Baiba Skride and Tugan Sokhiev joined the LSO at the Barbican for Messiaen, Bartók and Tchaikovksy. It was a memorable evening that demonstrated why the best performances are not necessarily the most faultless ones.
The Borodin Quartet’s played two Shostakovich quartets, as well as Beethoven Op.131. From the very first notes onwards they captivated the audience with their elegant and well-balanced sound.
Barbara Hannigan joined the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Simon Rattle for performances of Berg’s Three Fragments from Wozzeck and Ligeti’s Mysteries of the Macabre.
The BBC Symphony Orchestra continued to offer its audience adventurous programming, with this evening’s London première of Brett Dean’s Dramatic Personae.
The Concertgebouworkest's series based on 'the sublime' continues with an eclectic programme of Ockeghem, Ligeti, Varèse and Ravel at the Concertgebouw.
The Philharmonia, Eva-Maria Westbroek and Christoph von Dohnányi explore swan songs of Richard Strauss, in his 150th anniversary this week, and Bruckner at the Royal Festival Hall.
Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Violin Concerto "Out of Nowhere" received its long overdue UK première by the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Leila Josefowicz. Flanked by Sibelius’ Pohjola’s Daughter and Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 5, this was an exciting programme played brilliantly under Sakari Oramo.
Ilyich Rivas conducts his first official performance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra in a programme of Dvořák, Tchaikovsky and Mahler, concluding with a rare performance of Shostakovich's Symphony no. 1.
The UK-Russian Cultural Year is launched in London by the Tchaikovsky Symphony Orchestra of Moscow Radio, in a programme of Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich.
Martinů’s Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra is a lively, catchy piece, and was played as such by the Labèque sisters and the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Semyon Bychkov. Shostakovich’s Symphony no. 7 is, however, long, heavy and disquieting.
As part of the last full weekend of Southbank Centre's The Rest is Noise festival, Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra presented a programme of British orchestral music from the 1990s.
