Monthly Archives: August 2015

PCM7 Music for a blue Monday: Leonskaja and the Emerson Quartet play Shostakovich

Barber/Debussy/Shostakovich: Leonskaja,Emerson Qt *** Cadogan Hall, 31st August 2015 Traditional August Bank Holiday weather – steady rain – was reflected in the melancholy programme for this lunchtime Chamber Prom. From the famous Adagio of Samuel Barber’s String Quartet to Shostakovich’s lugubrious … Continue reading

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Brooding Rachmaninov 3 from Gergiev and the LSO

Rachmaninov: Symphony No.3; Balakirev: Russia Of Rachmaninov’s three symphonies, the Third enjoys the least popularity. There’s a certain notoriety to the First because of its disastrous première (thanks to a drunken Glazunov conducting), while the Second is adored for its … Continue reading

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Prom 58 “The silence speaks”: A gripping Kullervo

Sibelius: BBCSO/Oramo **** Royal Albert Hall, 29th August 2015 After a lacklustre trio of concerts traversing the seven symphonies, Sibelius’ 150th anniversary celebrations at the Proms peaked with a gripping encounter with Kullervo, his early, category-defying epic based on the … Continue reading

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Paper lanterns and origami wings: a ghostly Madama Butterfly at Grimeborn

Puccini: Madama Butterfly **** Grimeborn Festival, Arcola Theatre, 26th August 2015 It’s dangerous when a production is touted as “revelatory”. We were promised a “haunting psychological rendering” of Madama Butterfly by director Julia Burbach, “radically reframed” and inspired by Japanese … Continue reading

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Prom 53: Shostakovich’s Orango keeps the Red Flag flying over South Kensington

Bartók/Mozart/Shostakovich: Philharmonia/Salonen *** Royal Albert Hall, 24th August 2015 Fervent flag-waving is usually reserved for the Last Night of the Proms, so what was going on in this Philharmonia concert? The Arena was awash with a sea of red flags, … Continue reading

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