Quartet for the End of Time: Mercury Quartet at the French Institute

By Arthur Keegan-Bole, 01 June 2012

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Reviewed at Institut français (French Institute), London on 29 May 2012

Boulez, Dérive 1

Grisey, Talea

Messiaen, Quatuor pour la fin du temps (Quartet for the End of Time)

The Mercury Quartet

Robin Green, Conductor

Inspired by Debussy: The Mercury Quartet presents new work

Paul Kilbey, 26th November

Of the two major composers to have had anniversaries in 2012, maybe it’s ironic that it has been the 150-year-old Claude Debussy, rather than the 100-year-old John Cage, who has largely been celebrated with silence.

***11

Françoise-Green Piano Duo at the Vale of Glamorgan Festival

Simon Rees, 16th May

Piano duo Antoine Françoise and Robin Green perform a challenging, innovative and entertaining lunchtime recital.

****1

Heritage Opera present Jonathan Dove's new opera, Mansfield Park

Laura Kate Wilson, 6th August

It's extremely rare to see a small opera company commission a brand new work, but that's exactly what Heritage Opera, who regularly present chamber operas in the north-west of England, have done.

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

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Arthur Keegan-Bole

Arthur is a composer currently focusing on opera. His desire to promote contemporary music led him to set up and co-edit The Octogenarian, a light-hearted classical music review pamphlet distributed in Bristol and to curate the annual CMV series of concerts.