Tombs, elegies and ruins: Baltic & Estonian Music Days

Taavi Kerikmäe (harmonium) and Anna-Liisa Eller (kannel)

Anna-Liisa Eller performs on the kannel

Ruins of Tartu Cathedral

By Lawrence Dunn, 28 April 2024

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“this was music one had to lean in to hear – before it disappeared for good”

Reviewed at University of Tartu Museum: White Hall, Tartu on 27 April 2024

Kozlova-Johannes, A Place Not Found (world premiere)

Tulve, Elegeia (world premiere)

Visée, Tombeau pour Mesdemoiselles de Visée

Bach, Adagissimo from Capriccio on the departure of a beloved brother BWV 992 (arr. A.-L. Eller / T. Kerikmäe)

Weiss, Tombeau sur la morte m Comte de Logy (arr. A.-L. Eller)

Anna-Liisa Eller, Estonian kannel

Taavi Kerikmäe, Clavichord

Lost for words: Asmik Grigorian excels at Wigmore Hall

Roy Westbrook, 26th May

A first half of vocalises gives way to all Strauss after the interval as the Lithuanian superstar soprano helps Wigmore Hall celebrate its 125th anniversary.

****1

A self-congratulatory Cecilia Bartoli show at Salzburg Whitsun

Laura Servidei, 24th May

This year’s Salzburg Whitsun Festival gala, Ciao, bella ciao, features Cecilia Bartoli in a highly personalised musical programme structured as an autobiographical journey, unfolding as a blend of concert and self-portrait.

Sumptuous Sheffield Chamber Music Festival finale

Phil Parker, 23rd May

Ensemble 360 and soprano Claire Booth test to the limits the definition of ‘chamber music’ in this richly orchestral closing concert of the 2026 Sheffield Chamber Music Festival.

****1

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

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

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Lawrence Dunn

Lawrence is commissioning editor at Bachtrack. He is a composer, improviser, pianist and writer. He has taught at Cambridge, Huddersfield and Sheffield universities. He has written music for, among others the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Ensemble Modern, Slagwerk Den Haag, Philip Thomas, Juliet Fraser, Ilya Gringolts, Plus-Minus, Exaudi, Apartment House and Explore Ensemble.