Intended to signify the contribution of Russian music to the Western canon, the Royal Choral Society gave admirable performances of two major choral works, rarely heard in Winchester Cathedral.
The hometown Orquesta Filarmónica de Bogotá (OFB) proves big-league as they launch the Teatro Mayor Julio Mario Santo Domingo's Bogotá es la Rusia Romántica.
Recitals of Russian song don't have to be suffocated with doom and gloom. Neither do they have to be built upon the works of Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov.
Warhorse (noun): creaky old classic played by orchestras in their sleep at least once a season. There was absolutely no snoozing, however, through Alice Sara Ott's startling performance with the Philharmonia.
Charles Dutoit, still sporting his trademark slick of black hair and a 79-year-old whirlwind of francophone charisma, clearly brings this band's playing to a new level, especially when the repertoire happens to be French and Russian music of the 20th century.
As Birmingham-born Alpesh Chauhan builds his reputation towards becoming a conductor much in demand, so the CBSO finds itself in the fortunate position of securing the services of Mirga Gražytė-Tyla as Andris Nelsons’ successor as Music Director, with a chance to grow Chauhan as Assistant Conductor.
On day release from the Covent Garden pit for their annual evening in the limelight, the ROH Orchestra took a quick spin through works by Russia's Mighty Handful.
To celebrate its 50th birthday Dutch National Opera put on a festive tribute to the people that have made it the innovative and much-admired house it is today.
In a quirky programme featuring English, Welsh and Russian music the BBC National Orchestra and Chorus of Wales began their new season at St David’s Hall showcasing, with mixed results, their composer-in-association Huw Watkins, Elgar and three Russian composers at different stages in their careers.
A double bill at the Birgitta Festival staged Scheherazade and the Polovtsian Dances, both performed in costumes and on sets based on the original designs dating from around 1910.
In the third concert presentation of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in London this season, the Philharmonia's semi-staged attempt, conducted by Jakub Hrůša, was admirable.
As the December nights darken and the winter's first snowflakes fall from the sky, the Scottish Ensemble's candlelight concerts provice a welcome space for reflection at this busy time of year.
There’s a touch of Borodin bus syndrome around at the moment; you wait years for a production of Prince Igor, then two come along in succession. The first was from the Metropolitan Opera, directed by Dmitri Tcherniakov, swiftly followed by the Novaya Opera which brings its production from Moscow to London as part of the UK—Russia Year of Culture.
Even the best opera glasses would be no match for the intensity of this close-up introspection: a new production of Borodin's Prince Igor is playing at the Met.
One hundred years after the première performance of Stravinsky’s ballet The Rite of Spring, perhaps one of the most controversial and infamous stage premières of all time, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Barbican Centre’s Total Immersion collaboration provided an all-round look at every aspect of the music, choreography and the première itself through a variety of events on Sunday, culmi
Although it was probably arranged via a series of emails between managers, the audience at Prom 41 could have been forgiven for thinking that this was a match made in heaven.
Prom 30 saw the return of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under its Conductor Laureate Gianandrea Noseda with a Russian-themed programme. Prokofiev, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were played alongside Edward Cowie’s BBC commission and world première Earth Music I – The Great Barrier Reef.
It took the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra a little while to settle into tonight’s performance – which was a shame, because Borodin’s overture to Prince Igor can be a fantastic programme opener. A slightly untidy brass chord began the measured introduction, which sadly lacked tension in the build-up to the sudden fanfare and breakneck main theme.
It is not often you can say that the conductor’s outfit was as ornate and charming as the billed programme, but the entrance of a silver-coated Grzegorz Nowak proved that even a conductor’s first bow can be the perfect aesthetic prelude to an evening of similarly silvery, charming music.
The beautiful thing about music is that it can be a physical embodiment of passion. Violinist Andrew Haveron’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto on Thursday night in Dublin occasionally felt like it lacked a bit of passion, dazzlingly virtuosic though his performance was.
Sitting in the seats at the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts auditorium in Astoria, the boisterous, catchy tunes of Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to West Side Story rang out. Crisp, clean, and excitedly performed, it was a great start to an evening of what Maestro Silas Nathaniel Huff called ‘Riffs and Dances’.
On Friday 26 August, Google chairman, Eric Schmidt, told a MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival audience, "Over the past century, the UK has stopped nurturing its polymaths. You need to bring art and science back together." The following morning, Russia's Kopelman Quartet opened their capacity crowd Queen's Hall concert with String Quartet No.
I had high expectations for the evening after being very impressed with an MSSO performance I had seen as a teenager. The first piece on the programme was the Polovtsian Dances from Borodin’s opera, Prince Igor. The performance highlighted both the playful and brutal elements of the piece which made for an exciting performance.
Le duo Ludmila Berlinskaia – Arthur Ancelle a proposé un fastueux programme de compositions et d'arrangements pour deux pianos au festival Liszt en Provence.
Orientalische Sujets spielen in der Musikgeschichte schon seit dem Barock eine Rolle. Die Münchner Symphoniker präsentierten die Orientbegeisterung der Komponisten in einem spannenden Programm im Münchner Brunnenhof.
À tous les mélomanes qui se plaignent de toujours entendre les mêmes œuvres poncives en récital, il faudrait souffler très fort : Florian Noack. Car avec quelle joie gourmande on a écouté vendredi dernier le jeune pianiste belge dans ses propres transcriptions !
Mangelde Kooperation des Solisten und ein Orchester, das an seine Grenzen stößt, lassen hoffen, dass diese Aufführung die am folgenden Tag in Genf vorbereiten half.
L’Orchestre Métropolitain, son chœur affilié et trois chanteurs solistes livraient dimanche dernier un concert intitulé « Yannick Nézet-Séguin et l’âme russe », sous la baguette du chef éponyme. Si l’on tient compte de la flamboyance du jeu, de la clarté des tableaux, du chatoiement des couleurs orchestrales, ce n’est pas l’âme russe qui a été révélée cet après-midi-là, mais bien plutôt celle du chef d’orchestre.
Obwohl Sebastian Holecek als Titelheld beeindruckte, blieb Alexander Borodins Oper in einer eindimensionalen Inszenierung mit durchwachsener musikalischer Umsetzung insgesamt blass.
Die Interpretationen des Quatuor Sine Nomine waren in sich musikalisch geschlossen, überzeugend, dabei nie mit kalter Perfektion präsentiert oder auf Hochglanz getrimmt: ein begeisternder Quartett-Abend!
Troisième gala d’ouverture de la Philharmonie de Paris : les masses éclatantes de Borodine, Tchaïkovski et Stravinsky livrent un nouvel aspect de l'acoustique de la salle — chatoyant bien que parfois déséquilibré.
