A sparkling if challenging first half of Haydn and Schnittke, splendidly delivered by the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester, but with shortcomings in the conductor's approach to Tchaikovsky's largest symphonic score.
Teodor Currentzis, on tour with the SWR Symphony Orchestra, pairs two Russian masterpieces written a century apart: Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony and Schnittke's Viola Concerto with Antoine Tamestit.
Russian pianist Kozhukhin's performance of Rachmininov's Fourth Piano Concerto is the highlight of the evening but Flor and NSO deliver satisfying Dvořák and Boydell.
With a programme spanning from Bach through Schumann, Cage, all the way to Lera Auerbach and David Lang, Hilary Hahn shows she is on top form alongside pianist Cory Smythe.
The youthful duo, British Violinist Thomas Gould and Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova took to the stage at the intimate St George’s Concert Hall for a more relaxed ‘Late Night Classical Café’.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra certainly pulled out all the stops with a Rest is Noise programme that, in theory, should have scared the horses half to death. A concert of three large orchestral works from height of the 1960/70s avant garde, and featuring composers from behind the Iron Curtain to boot, is a very rare beast indeed.
Pairing music from the 18th and 20th centuries is a common programming strategy, one which can bring out interesting parallels between the musical preoccupations of two very different eras. Some 20th-century composers looked to the more distant past as a way of engaging with traditions before the emotionally coercive 19th century.
For those who love the additional linguistic dimension offered by a parallel-text programme, this concert was a delight: four items by four composers from two countries – in three languages.The stage of a full Usher Hall lay bare except for 28 shoulder-high music stands, one for each member of the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and, facing them, one at conductor height for Daniel Reuss.
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”, goes the familiar phrase, and that can be applied in life to any number of things, including music. Were the father of harmony, Johann Sebastian Bach, still alive today, he would be beyond flattered.
Manchester Camerata’s series of Mozart concertos, an ongoing theme in their 40th anniversary season, came to a close with pianist Ferenc Rados joining fellow Hungarian Gábor Takács-Nagy for a superb account of the Piano Concerto no. 15 at the Royal Northern College of Music.The broader theme of the evening, though, was movement, and two modern works began proceedings to fascinating effect.
The string nonet Collectif 9 offers its public something truly as valuable as it is rare: classical repertoire “revisited with passion and fearlessness”. They are a group of very young and fiercely talented string players, many of whom play in the city’s professional orchestras.
Edinburgh’s 1869 church of St George’s West is a fine example of the prolific output of local architect David Bryce (1803–76). On this particularly chilly evening (inside and out), it hosted an Edinburgh Quartet “Rush Hour Concert” which featured an interesting take on format and programming.
The Mahler Chamber Orchestra presented a Russian program with a twist; “A Russian Flirt with Haydn”. All four works and three composers that graced the stage were influenced by Haydn, most obviously Schnittke and his Moz-Art à la Haydn. The music worked well together, though I would suspect that this is more due to the Russian background than Haydn’s influence.
The husband and wife team of acclaimed concert violinist Lisa Batiashvili and solo oboist François Leleux forms the backbone of this as-yet-unnamed chamber group, which performs as often as busy individual schedules permit. For some the main draw of an ensemble of like this might be hearing the music buffeted around by strong personalities.
For its season finale, Soundings: New Music at the Nasher presented violinist Anthony Marwood and pianist Aleksandar Madzar in a program advertised as “a dialogue of caprice and masterpiece.
For this concert Sigvards Kļava, chief conductor and artistic leader of the Latvian Radio Choir, worked as a guest conductor for the Dutch choir Capella Amsterdam. Modern and contemporary classical music play a significant, but not exclusive, role in the repertoires of both choirs.
Porté par le violoniste David Grimal, l'ensemble Les Dissonances revient à la Philharmonie dans un programme de haute volée, avec un Stravinsky pétulant et un Chostakovich massif.
La Camerata Vocal Universidad de Chile y la Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Chile realizaron la primera interpretación en el país del Requiem de Alfred Schnittke, complementada por la Sinfonía núm. 15 de Shostakovich, sorteando con éxito el tremendo desafío de juntar ambas obras.
On ne peut que se réjouir que deux musiciens parmi les plus en vue de leur génération aient eu, dimanche dernier, le courage et l’audace de proposer et défendre un répertoire aussi marginal que stupéfiant.
Vadim Gluzman et l'orchestre philarmonique de Radio France interprètent le cinquième Concerto grosso d'Alfred Schnittke, oeuvre à la portée métaphysique, où l'écriture ne transige jamais avec l'idée.
Fazil Say « par l’auteur », (K)ein Sommernachtstraum d’Alfred Schnittke, Messiaen et Chostakovitch. Un programme exemplaire, et une salle qui aurait mérité d’être pleine !
Concert Mozart - Schnittke - Brahms, qui nous permet notamment d'entendre le concerto pour alto de Schnittke, oeuvre d'une incroyable richesse stylistique et expressive.
Un bien beau concerto de Tchaïkovski par le divin Vadim Gluzman, malheureusement la tension ne vint pas du côté de Maestro Yamada qui nous fit louper le train pour la Sibérie…
