A bright and brilliant lunchtime in Birmingham with Jayson Gillham

By Katherine Dixson, 06 March 2013

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Reviewed at Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham on 5 March 2013

Bach, Toccata in G major, BWV916

Beethoven, Piano Sonata no. 24 in F sharp major "A Thérèse", Op.78

Liszt, Isolde's Liebestod from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, transc. for piano, S 447

Schumann, Études symphoniques, Op.13

Jayson Gillham, Piano

More gold than corn: María Dueñas plays Korngold at the Barbican

Mark Pullinger, 22nd May

The young Spanish violinist proves an ardent advocate for a work originally dismissed as a “Hollywood Concerto” as the BBC Symphony Orchestra closes its Barbican season.

****1

The ears have it: Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas on the Cutty Sark

Mark Valencia, 21st May

Come away fellow sailors, your anchors be weighing! All board the Cutty Sark for a semi-staging of Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.

****1

Heavenly Mahler – and Strauss – from Lucy Crowe and the LSO

Roy Westbrook, 21st May

Songs and symphonies from Sir Simon Rattle and the London Symphony Orchestra, concluding with a vision of “heavenly life” from Gustav Mahler.

****1

Intimate colossus: Daniil Trifonov with the Rotterdam Philharmonic

Max Lima, 21st May

Late Brahms, early Schoenberg: under Lahav Shani and the Rotterdam Philharmonic draw tenderness from two monumental scores.

****1

Conviction, passion and clarity: Sir Stephen Hough at Wigmore Hall

Christopher Woodley, 19th May

Fragments by Brahms, Schoenberg and Schubert orbit Beethoven's Waldstein and Schumann's Carnaval in another masterful recital from Sir Stephen Hough.

****1

Spellbinding Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Vienna’s Musikverein

Chanda VanderHart, 18th May

In Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto, Yulianna Avdeeva commands attention through sheer innate charisma, anchored in intense engagement.

*****

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Katherine Dixson

Katherine is an enthusiastic choral singer. Becoming chairman of her choir proved the catalyst for writing a memoir into which she crammed musical experiences galore, including her own belated musical education and encounters with professional musicians. Combining music, writing and travel is Katherine’s idea of bliss. Her website is here.