GRAMOPHONE Review: Prokofiev Violin Concerto No 1/Sibelius Violin Concerto – Jansen, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra/Mäkelä
09/08/2024So impressive. Janine Jansen essentially strips these pieces of all the years of what one might call ‘performance adornment’ and takes them back to their elemental roots. From Mäkelä and the Oslo Philharmonic the shimmer at the start of the Sibelius is a frosty haze that you can see rather than hear and from the … [Read More]
GRAMOPHONE Review: A Change is Gonna Come – Nicholas Phan/Palaver Strings
There is liberation in the timelessness of these songs and settings, be they old or brand new. And timelessness is what makes this quirky and haunting collection – a tapestry, if you like, of protest – memorable.…
GRAMOPHONE Review: Elfman Percussion Concerto Wunderkammer – Currie, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra/Falletta
Elfman’s Concerto for Orchestra Wunderkammer was written for the National Youth Orchestra and clearly designed to stretch and stimulate young imaginations – to say nothing of techniques. It’s a kind of Rubik Cube of orchestral possibilities. The…
MUSICALS Podcast: Edward Seckerson meets STEPHANIE J BLOCK
The Broadway star talks about the highs and lows of a hugely varied career, and her current joy at playing Lili Vanessi in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate at the Barbican. Edward Seckerson meets the fabulous Stephanie J Block,…
MUSICALS Podcast: Edward Seckerson meets FRANK WILDHORN
Edward Seckerson meets the prolific Frank Wildhorn during the West End opening of Your Lie in April, his latest venture (after Death Note) into the realms of Japanese Manga. From one huge Whitney Houston hit – ‘Where Do Broken…
MUSICALS Podcast: Edward Seckerson meets MELISSSA ERRICO
For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Melissa Errico, celebrated purveyor of the songs of Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand and a cabaret artist of extraordinary magnetism. Her theatre career on Broadway and beyond has embraced…
GRAMOPHONE Review: NIELSEN Flute Concerto, Symphony No. 3, Pan & Syrinx – Bergen Philharmonic/Gardner
A near perfect combo of works spanning the length and breadth of Carl Nielsen’s life’s work. The tone poem Pan and Syrinx should rightly come between the two big works but it makes for an impressionable curtain…
GRAMOPHONE Review: BERNSTEIN Serenade / WILLIAMS Violin Concerto – James Ehnes, St Louis Symphony Orchestra/Denève
I’ve always admired the modesty and truthfulness of James Ehnes as a player – and you can hear that modesty at work in Phaedrus’ opening address from the Bernstein Serenade. There’s an unfussy directness about it that…
GRAMOPHONE Review: BARTOK The Wooden Prince, Divertimento, Romanian Folk Dances – BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra/Dausgaard
Bartok was never fully content with The Wooden Prince and this final revision marks an end to his tinkering. It is significant, I think, that all his trimming has to do with music explicitly related to stage…
MUSICALS Podcast: Edward Seckerson meets CHRISTINE ALLADO
For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Christine Allado, fresh from lending her shining soprano to the Old Friends celebrating Stephen Sondheim at London’s Gielgud Theatre. Some may remember her opposite Rob Houchen in the TV documentary The Making…
MUSICALS Podcast: Edward Seckerson meets JACK GODFREY
For this Musicals Magazine Podcast, Edward Seckerson meets Jack Godfrey, one of the brightest and most engaging talents in the exciting renaissance of new writing, enlivening the West End and beyond. With 42 Balloons – for which he wrote…
