Brusque Beethoven from Jonathan Biss at Wigmore Hall

By Mark Pullinger, 30 September 2019

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“as if Beethoven the rule-breaker was tired of observing courtly manners”

Reviewed at Wigmore Hall, London on 29 September 2019

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 1 in F minor, Op.2 no.1

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 9 in E major, Op.14 no.1

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 13 in E flat major "quasi una fantasia", Op.27 no.1

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 12 in A flat major, Op.26

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 21 in C major "Waldstein", Op.53

Jonathan Biss, Piano

Jonathan Biss steps in with Schubert at Toronto’s Koerner Hall

Michelle Assay, 5th October

Stepping in to replace Stephen Kovacevich, Jonathan Biss’ Schubert alternates between insight and impatience.

***11

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Roy Westbrook, 31st January

Jakub Hrůša conducts a magnificent Shostakovich 11 and, just after the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, a work by one of the many Jewish musicians who perished there.

****1

Playfulness and horror: Beethoven and Shostakovich in Cardiff

Simon Cummings, 11th February

Ryan Bancroft and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales give an extraordinary, terrifying account of Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Symphony, preceded by a Classical-Romantic tussle in Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto.

*****

Shostakovich in the raw from Canellakis and the LPO

Chris Garlick, 28th October

Early Beethoven doesn't convince, but Karina Canellakis’s rendering of Shostakovich 8 pulls no punches: raw, frightening, even chastening

***11

Hannu Lintu conducts the BBC SO in a bold, stimulating programme

Chris Garlick, 28th January

A boldly curated programme, showcasing two ambitious orchestral works premiered during the last two years, proved to be a most stimulating evening.

*****

Watanabe leads thrilling “Eroica” with Philadelphia Orchestra

Cameron Kelsall, 26th April

The 31-year-old Assistant Conductor approached a program of Beethoven, Weber and Schumann with confidence and a forceful hand.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.