A violin sensation tests his mettle as a re-composer

Curtis Stewart

Curtis Stewart and musicians from the Gateways Music Festival

By Kurt Gottschalk, 27 April 2025

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“his reworking of Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely dripped quite nicely with sentiment”

Reviewed at Merkin Hall at Kaufman Music Center, New York City on 25 April 2025

Stewart, 24 American Caprices

Stewart, Seasons of Change

Curtis Stewart, Violin

Gateways Music Festival Orchestra

Dazzling Prokofiev from Alim Beisembayev and the RLPO

Peter Connors, 26th April

In an all-Russian programme in Liverpool, Alim Beisembayev gives a breathtaking performance of Prokofiev's fiendishly difficult Second Piano Concerto.

****1

A Evgeny Kissin tour de force in Boston

Kevin Wells, 25th April

Andrey Boreyko makes an impressive debut with the Boston Symphony, where Evgeny Kissin performs in not one, but two piano concertos.

****1

Stephen Hough makes a convincing case for Rachmaninov 1 with the RSNO

Simon Thompson, 24th April

On a return visit to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, John Wilson shapes A London Symphony with melancholy sweep.

****1

Patriotic angst with the Royal Northern Sinfonia and Thomas Zehetmair

Nick Butters, 24th April

Patriotic Sibelius and early Mendelssohn are served up at the Glasshouse in Gateshead.

***11

Yunchan Lim at Carnegie Hall: unmooring musical time

Edward Sava-Segal, 24th April

Schubert and Scriabin are shaped by expansion and suspension in the Korean pianist’s Carnegie Hall recital.

****1

From funeral rites to firebird: Măcelaru and the Cincinnati Symphony

Sam Jacobson, 24th April

In a staged Firebird and an early work by Mahler, Cristian Măcelaru and the Cincinnati Symphony colorfully bring to life these composers’ youthful ambitions.

****1

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Kurt Gottschalk

Kurt Gottschalk is a journalist and author based in New York City. His writings on contemporary and classical music, jazz and improvisation have been published in outlets throughout Europe and America and he has two volumes of short fiction to his name. He produced and hosted the Miniature Minotaurs radio programme on WFMU and currently hosts Afternoon New Music on WKCR.

From Vivaldi to Bowie, a violin sensation tests his mettle as a re-composer