Alexander Hall divides his time between London and Hamburg, having spent a lifetime writing in some form or other: fiction, academic research, educational materials and professional translations. He has been an avid concert-goer from his teenage years with fond memories of many of the giants of the past, including Klemperer, Karajan, Böhm, Bernstein and Carlos Kleiber. For him the symphony orchestra is one of the greatest artistic creations of all time.
Online concert organisers need to stage their events more successfully than what was on offer here from Bournemouth. Schubert, Lyadov and Shostakovich all wrote memorable pieces. Nothing much memorable about these performances though.
Bertrand Chamayou proves an ideal soloist for the quixotic and energy-driven Saint-Saëns Second Piano Concerto, but what happened to the “fix” in the idée fixe of the Berlioz Fantastic Symphony?
The darker sides of Romantic inventiveness are explored in Schumann’s neglected violin concerto and the clandestine woodland rustle of Dvořák’s G major symphony.
Jakub Hrůša with the Munich Philharmonic and Christian Schmitt extract maximum colour and effervescence from Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, whereas the conductor opts for lyrical spaciousness in Dvořák’s rarely-heard Fifth Symphony.
"Expect the unexpected" is a useful maxim for reviewers. Major last-minute changes to the advertised La Scala programme, with Chen Reiss in Mozart and Zubin Mehta in Beethoven and Schubert.
The catchy title of Ardent Desire signposted the Orchestra of Bavarian State Opera's latest Monday evening live streamed concert: two pieces of high Romanticism from Schubert and Strauss.
In this musical journey the Greek conductor Constantinos Carydis takes you to Athens and Crete, while Igor Levit explores Apollonian qualities in Mozart.
Vision 2020 is the snappy title the LPO uses for contrasting works from different centuries. Here Thomas Søndergård danced his way through Ravel, Bent Sørensen and Schubert.
Nothing for doomsters and gloomsters here in this performance of Bruckner's majestic Eighth, turning intimations of mortality into a celebration of life itself.
The radio symphony orchestras based in the individual federal states are some of Germany's musical jewels. Here, Andrés Orozco-Estrada and his Frankfurt musicians together with tenor Christian Elsner demonstrate their mettle.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra and its chief conductor Thomas Søndergård have little to say about Beethoven’s First Symphony, but in partnership with Midori much more about that composer’s Violin Concerto.
Beethoven's summation of his keyboard writing is open to a variety of interpretations. Sir András Schiff asserts noble tradition over revolutionary impulse.
Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic contrast barmy Hindemith with balmy Schubert, while Julian Prégardien explores Mahler’s balladic Wayfaring Songs.
Alisa Weilerstein shows why Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations deserves to be considered a concerto, while Alan Gilbert’s view of the Eroica with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester raises some doubts.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra takes to the road again with a 20th-century programme of music by Janáček and Ravel, with Sir George Benjamin conducting Pierre-Laurent Aimard in one of his own compositions.
At Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Andris Nelsons launch a chronological cycle of Beethoven's nine symphonies with the first three sticks of dynamite.
Frank Peter Zimmermann dazzles in an angelic tribute, while Alan Gilbert and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester emphasise clarity at the expense of warmth.
Daniel Pioro reminds us of the qualities of Oliver Knussen's Violin Concerto, while Vasily Petrenko and the LPO see a pair of second symphonies in very different ways.
