Tale as old as time… but clearly with half an eye on the Instagram age. Hearing this concept album before actually seeing Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest West End opus (and remember that’s how both Jesus Christ Superstar…
Richard Bratby’s affectionate tribute to glorious Malcolm Arnold on the 100th anniversary of his birth (September issue) has prompted a few reflections of my own. Not least among them was the weekend I included the slow movement…
Wicked UK’s new podcast with composer / lyricist Stephen Schwartz and Edward Seckerson, to mark the 15th anniversary of the show in London’s West End. They discuss the enduring popularity of this musical theatre phenomenon, as well…
The Symphonic Suite has quite a pedigree, from those seeking to bask in the drama and hit tunes of favourite operas without words or voices (conductor Carlo Rizzi has been doing so with Puccini, I gather) to…
As I contemplate the return of public events and the unimaginable joy of hearing a real orchestra live for the first time in 18 months – that would be at the Proms, I fancy – I am…
Sunday 28th November 2021 3.00pm Crazy Coqs, Brasserie Zédel Comparing Notes brings stars of the West End and Broadway to Crazy Coqs. In a lively and informal mix of performance and conversation host Edward Seckerson will be getting…
A monodrama, a ballet and a mini-opera. Three faces of Samuel Barber ‘in camera’. One might expect a unique offering from a source committed to that cause – namely the Boston Modern Orchestra Project – but I…
Re-hearing Andris Nelsons’ splendid account of Shostakovich’s Fifteenth Symphony has left me as ever haunted by the skeletal ‘ticking’ of side drum, castanet and woodblock in the final moments of this the composer’s last symphonic utterance. Of…
Sunday 17th October 2021 3.00pm Crazy Coqs, Brasserie Zédel Comparing Notes brings stars of the West End and Broadway to Crazy Coqs. In a lively and informal mix of performance and conversation host Edward Seckerson will be getting…
Fenella Humphreys wears her virtuosity lightly. She’s one of those very ‘contained’ players whose musicality looks you straight in the eye but never ever draws attention to itself. The inner-tension is palpable tracing out the first subject…
