Wandering around Cage: Margaret Leng Tan plays Four Walls in the Barbican Art Gallery

By Paul Kilbey, 18 March 2013

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Reviewed at Barbican Centre: Art Gallery, London on 14 March 2013

Cage, Four Walls

Margaret Leng Tan, Piano

A birthday happening for Stephen Montague at St John's Smith Square

Frances Wilson, 12th March

It’s not every day that one goes to a dinner party at lunchtime, but this was a rather special dinner party – A Dinner Party for John Cage. It formed the centerpiece of a lunchtime “happening” at St John’s Smith Square to celebrate the 70th birthday of American-British composer Stephen Montague.

*****

Russian Spring: Elder and the Hallé reunite in glorious style

Leighton Jones, 7th May

The music of Glinka, Stravinsky, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky fills Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall with mystery, intrigue and jollity.

****1

Classical grace and Romantic eloquence from the Philharmonia

Christopher Woodley, 7th May

The contrasting delights of Schumann, Brahms and Dvořák are powerfully evoked in performances of charm, eloquence and high drama from the Philharmonia, continuing the orchestra’s 80th anniversary celebrations.

****1

Spacious Prokofiev from Seong-Jin Cho and the Munich Philharmonic

SangKwon Lee, 6th May

Seong-Jin Cho’s premise in Prokofiev is compelling – to reconcile Russian gravitational attack and monumental construction with clarity, colour and contrapuntal legibility.

***11

Marc-André Hamelin surveys two centuries of piano sonatas

Sam Jacobson, 5th May

From Haydn and Beethoven to Weinberg and Rachmaninov, Marc-André Hamelin reveals the piano sonata as a form of breadth, flexibility and expressive power.

****1

Subtle magic: Zubin Mehta celebrates his 90th birthday in Berlin

Zenaida des Aubris, 3rd May

Zubin Mehta celebrates his 90th birthday with a concert at the Staatsoper Berlin.

*****

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Paul Kilbey

Paul was Reviews Editor at Bachtrack from 2012 to February 2014. He has written on music and culture for publications including Culture Wars, the Huffington Post, the Independent and the Guardian. He holds BA and MPhil degrees in music from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and is particularly passionate about contemporary music of all types. His website is here.