Three contrasting 20th-century masterworks were judiciously crafted and insightfully honed by the Orchestre Symphonique of Montreal and their music director Kent Nagano.
Pekka Kuusisto’s direction of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra is playful, creative and joyous in a mixed programme from Biber to Bartók, Haydn to Messiaen wrapped round with Ravel.
By using Schumann’s Novelletten to draw a broad dramaturgical bow over the whole evening, Martin Helmchen stands on his own as a bold and highly creative pianist.
The “Festival Tour” and its three-venue concerts of the Davos Festival programme included almost as many visual and outdoor delights as it did musical treats.
Since its inception in 1986, the Davos Festival has given a platform to more than 2,080 young artists of promise. This 33rd festival year is no exception.
Revelling in the luscious orchestrations and sumptuous melodies, it was a rare treat to bask in such obvious delight from both conductor and orchestra.
The Lithuanian conductor made Beethoven really sing while violinist, Vilde Frang's spirited interpretation of Elgar's Violin Concerto did not seem quite the finished article.
James Ehnes, Steven Osborne and Alban Gerhardt captured the lamentations of Shostakovich's Second Piano Trio before they were joined by clarinettist Jean Johnson for Messiaen's quartet at St John’s Smith Square.
An unusual pairing of works for two pianos by Brahms and Messiaen created a concert of unexpected contrasts, rich textures and exceptionally virtuosity.
Thomas Hengelbrock and the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra open Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie concert-hall with a traversal of music through the ages, from a Renaissance motet to Wolfgang Rihm's latest work.
2017 began with a bang in Zurich, thanks to a stellar pianist, Daniil Trifonov, and a peak performance by the Tonhalle Orchestra under Kent Nagano’s seasoned baton.
To open the new year, Seattle Symphony music director Ludovic Morlot chose a standard work, Beethoven’s Ninth, prefaced with an unusual one by French composer Olivier Messaien.
Characteristic attention made high-precision textures glisten even in this difficult acoustic. No tears required. On the basis of this performance, Mexican youth music is in fine shape.
The interpretation was crowned by the most rapt rendition of the last movement imaginable, all yearningly luminescent and full of spellbinding nobility of tone from the orchestra.
Here's a winning formula to pack a concert hall for a Saturday night organ recital: book one of the country's best-known actor-managers to front the evening, invest in televisual effects, and write a good script.
What’s next for the outgoing Music Director of the New York Philharmonic? It’s unclear. But this program reflected both his legacy and the gifts he will carry down the road.
The combination of Esa-Pekka Salonen and the New York Philharmonic, in the first of three evenings devoted solely to Messiaen’s Turangalîla-Symphonie proved riveting and exhilarating.
As part of the New York Philharmonic’s CONTACT new music series at National Sawdust in Brooklyn, Esa-Pekka Salonen drew connections among Olivier Messiaen, two of his students (Pierre Boulez and George Benjamin) and one outlier (Oliver Knussen).
While a powerful and exciting experience, Thursday's performance of Messiaen's Turangalîla ultimately proved a somewhat disappointing and distracting performance.
A hard working concert from the excellent RSNO and Peter Oundjian, proved to be a very harmonious mix of mellow works by Messaien, Mozart And Bruckner.
The music of John Foulds and Olivier Messiaen and their shared interest in Hindu philosophy and the music of India created an exciting and life-affirming programme for Prom 38
Prom 29 had a distinctly French flavour, with themes of dance and birdsong running through the programme in a glittering performance of music by Mozart, Ravel, Messiaen and Stravinsky.
On a program of musical works with imagery ranging from Mount Fuji to zygotes, the common thread was Japan and the sounds it has inspired over the past few decades.
The Philharmonia Orchestra's Paris: City of Light 1900–1950 reaches its climax, where Debussy and Messiaen combine for a radiant, dazzling programme. Pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard crowns an emotionally intense Turangalîla-symphonie.
