Tag Archives: Beethoven

Brusque Beethoven from Jonathan Biss at Wigmore Hall

Jonathan Biss Wigmore Hall, 29th September 2019 “Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start,” sings Maria in The Sound of Music. It is indeed and Jonathan Biss, launching his Beethoven 250 piano sonata cycle at … Continue reading

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Beethoven or bust: anniversary series launched at Wigmore Hall

Michael Collins & friends; Elisabeth Leonskaja Wigmore Hall, 15th September 2019 Brace yourselves! We’re going to hear an awful lot of Ludwig in the coming fifteen months. Even before the calendar has clicked over to 2020 – and even then, … Continue reading

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The elixir of love: Blomstedt conducts the Philharmonia in Mozart and Beethoven

Blomstedt/ Philharmonia Royal Festival Hall, 14th April 2019 Perhaps he keeps a portrait in his attic. Or perhaps he quaffs a magical elixir supplied by some Dulcamara-type figure. We do know he doesn’t touch alcohol or coffee. But Herbert Blomstedt … Continue reading

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Paradise Regained: a heavenly evening with Aurora

Collon/ Aurora Orchestra Kings Place, 5th April 2019 “Dark with excessive bright thy skirts appear.” This quotation, an evocative description of God from Book 3 of Milton’s Paradise Lost, intrigued composer Missy Mazzoli, who writes “I love the impossibility of … Continue reading

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White-hot intensity from the Emerson Quartet at Milton Court

Emerson Quartet **** Milton Court, 8th November 2018 Benjamin Britten’s String Quartet no. 3 in G major – with its closing farewell-to-life passacaglia inspired by music from his opera Death in Venice – was composed in 1976, during the composer’s final illness. That same … Continue reading

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