Standing Ovations and Cheers for Rarely-Heard Organ Works

By Renee Barrick, 01 November 2010

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Reviewed at Cathedral Church of St John the Divine, New York City on 24 October 2010

Demessieux, Complete Organ Works, Part III

Stephen Tharp, Organ

Finding the sublime in Bach’s solo works with the CMS

Kurt Gottschalk, 10th December

Less often heard works for lute and organ sat alongside a violin partita and a cello suite that bordered on perfection.

****1

Savall conducts Beethoven and Haydn at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 3rd April

Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge is paired with Haydn's Die sieben letzten Worte, a journey from agony to transcendence in which the agony proves the more honest companion.

***11

Portraits and pictures from Ibragimova, Gardner and the LPO

Roy Westbrook, 1st April

From Three Screaming Popes to Pictures at an Exhibition, a pair of works inspired by paintings frame a violin concerto by Béla Bartók at London's Southbank Centre.

****1

Evgeny Kissin leaves a trail of happy hearts at the Barbican

Christopher Woodley, 31st March

With a spring in his step, Evgeny Kissin returns to Barbican Hall and gives well-wrought accounts of Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt and Schumann.

****1

Energy, precision and drama from the Philadelphia Orchestra

Susan Stempleski, 31st March

Marin Alsop is joined by pianist Hayato Sumino as she conducts the Philadelphians in an exhilarating program of works by John Adams, Gershwin and Prokofiev.

****1

Johnston’s Tavener the highlight for the Brighton Philharmonic

Nick Boston, 29th March

Warm Vaughan Williams and energetic Richter and Vivaldi from MacGregor and the BPO strings, with an astonishing performance of Tavener’s The Protecting Veil from Guy Johnston the highlight.

****1

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Renee Barrick

Renee lives in Philadelphia and was in charge of concert programming for the historical musical instruments collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City for many years. She is also an organist and choral conductor, and loves great music of all kinds.