Le Bœuf sur le toit: Roaring Twenties Paris

By Mark Pullinger, 02 April 2017

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Reviewed at Institut français (French Institute): Ciné Lumière, London on 2 April 2017

Saint-Saëns, Danse macabre

Poulenc, Élégie, FP 175

Poulenc, L'Embarquement pour Cythère, FP 150

Milhaud, Le Bœuf sur le toit (The Ox on the Roof), Op.58

Ravel, Pavane pour une infante défunte

Gershwin, 3 Preludes

Debussy, Prélude à l'après-midi d'un faune

Piazzolla, Verano Porteño

Piazzolla, Libertango

Rachmaninov, Prelude in C sharp minor for piano, Op.3 no.2

Marcela Roggeri, Piano

François Chaplin, Piano

Alexandre Lory, Piano

When time stands still: the Philharmonia revisits Strauss

Jessica Duchen, 4th June

The Philharmonia, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Benjamin Grosvenor shine in the recreation of an all-Strauss extravaganza that was conducted in 1947 by the composer himself.

****1

Staatskapelle Dresden’s sonic alchemy at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 2nd June

From the earthy joy of Meistersinger to the sublime textures of Debussy, Daniele Gatti channels the Dresdeners' legendary, layered warmth into an unforgettable evening of pure acoustic luxury.

****1

Ambition meets the Philharmonie: Peltokoski and Kantorow in Paris

Laurence Vittes, 2nd June

Two prodigies, with a surplus of imagination and more interest in the moment than in creating long arcs of music, join the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in Paris.

****1

Jurowski marks Hans Werner Henze’s centenary at the Elbphilharmonie

Mengguang Huang, 31st May

Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin deliver a lean, razor-sharp exploration of captivity and survival, balancing Beethoven’s and Brahms’ structural clarity against the devastating, high-fidelity distortion of Henze’s Ninth Symphony.

****1

Kissin, Bell and Isserlis: remembrance and loss at Carnegie Hall

Edward Sava-Segal, 31st May

Solomon Rosowsky, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky form a matinee programme whose deeper connections gradually came into focus.

****1

Mischievous Pan at Hong Kong Sinfonietta’s French May

Christopher Halls, 30th May

French clarinettist Raphaël Sévère unearths beauty in Nielsen’s concerto and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta impress in two settings of Pan’s antics at the French May Festival.

****1

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Mark Pullinger

Mark has been a Bachtrack editor since 2014. He is also an experienced critic, writing hundreds of reviews for the site, as well as a freelancer writing for other magazines and newspapers. He also writes programme notes and blogs on Substack. Mark has a particular passion for the operas of Verdi as well as Russian and French repertoire. Outside the concert hall and opera house, Mark enjoys cooking and travel and is probably at his happiest let loose in a French patisserie or a Viennese coffee house.

Le Bœuf sur le toit: Paris in the Roaring Twenties celebrated at the Institut français