Monthly Archives: October 2014

Pavel Kolesnikov scales Rachmaninov’s Everest with elegance

Rachmaninov: LPO/Sinaisky **** Royal Festival Hall, 29th October 2014 “A mountain! The hardest piece you could everest play!” David Helfgott admits to Cecil Parkes in the film Shine, describing the monumental ‘Rach 3’ – Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto no. 3 in D minor – … Continue reading

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Jette Parker Young Artists step up to deliver a vivacious Rossini Silken Ladder

Rossini: La scala di seta **** Linbury Studio, 23rd October 2014 Rare – and not so rare – Rossini is rampant this autumn. While his opera seriaare celebrated by Welsh National Opera with new productions of Guillaume Tell and Mosè in Egitto, the Royal … Continue reading

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‘The French Beethoven’ unmasked by the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment

Onslow/Beethoven: OAE/Roth *** Royal Festival Hall, 22nd October 2014 The name George Onslow may conjure up images of whippets, pints and rolling Yorkshire dales, but he was in fact born in Clermont-Ferrand in 1784 and was known as ‘the French … Continue reading

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Finest French fare to mark the Nash Ensemble’s 50th anniversary

Nash Ensemble **** Wigmore Hall, 18th October 2014 The Nash Ensemble toasted its golden anniversary with a selection of golden French repertoire – some of it more familiar in orchestral form – at its Wigmore Hall gala. Formed by Amelia … Continue reading

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Broad slapstick eclipses Haydn’s Life on the Moon

Haydn: Life on the Moon ** English Touring Opera, Hackney Empire, 17th October 2014 Few composers deal in genial wit better than Joseph Haydn, so I was baffled that his opera buffa Il mondo della luna left me so grumpy … Continue reading

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