Valletta International Baroque Festival: Bach keyboard music

By Anthony Hart, 03 February 2014

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Reviewed at Sala Isouard, Valletta on 26 January 2014

Bach, Capriccio sopra la lontananza del suo fratello dilettissimo, (On the departure of a most beloved brother), BWV992

Bach, English Suite no. 2 in A minor, BWV807

Bach, Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue in D minor, BWV903

Bach, Italian Concerto, BWV971

Joanne Camilleri, Piano

Andris Nelsons and the BSO arrive in New York, with baggage in tow

Cameron Kelsall, 9th April

In his first New York appearance since the termination of his contract as BSO Music Director, Nelsons courts public sympathy and makes some thrilling music.

***11

Nelson Goerner shines with the CBSO and Rachmaninov's Rhapsody

Robert Gainer, 9th April

The CBSO present the work of three European émigré composers of the 1930s and 40s, who reimagined their musical influences with contrasting approaches and results.

****1

Karabits and Szeps-Znaider carouse with the LPO

Christopher Woodley, 8th April

The sparkle of Max Bruch's Fecond Violin Concerto and the drama of Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony overcome the gloom of Anna Thorvaldsdottir’s dark forebodings.

****1

Savall conducts Beethoven and Haydn at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 3rd April

Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge is paired with Haydn's Die sieben letzten Worte, a journey from agony to transcendence in which the agony proves the more honest companion.

***11

Portraits and pictures from Ibragimova, Gardner and the LPO

Roy Westbrook, 1st April

From Three Screaming Popes to Pictures at an Exhibition, a pair of works inspired by paintings frame a violin concerto by Béla Bartók at London's Southbank Centre.

****1

Energy, precision and drama from the Philadelphia Orchestra

Susan Stempleski, 31st March

Marin Alsop is joined by pianist Hayato Sumino as she conducts the Philadelphians in an exhilarating program of works by John Adams, Gershwin and Prokofiev.

****1

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Anthony Hart

Anthony Hart, born in the UK, now lives in Malta. He was presented papers for Società Italiana di Musicologia and the International Musicological Society. He a Licentiate of the London College of Music. He has had papers published in Early Music, Studi Musicali and Fonti Musicali Italiane.

Following in Bach’s footsteps at the Valletta International Baroque Festival