Prom 31: Hallé, Coote, Elder, Royal Albert Hall
The levels of refinement now exhibited by the Hallé, the stylishness and elegance of the playing, is alone a measure of the special relationship that they and Mark Elder have cemented over the last decade and a…
Britten Sinfonia, Alice Coote, Wigmore Hall
The Britten Centenary began here, on his 99th birthday, on Saint Cecilia Day, at Wigmore Hall, and it seemed only fitting that the composer who gave him so much inspiration should have the first word – or…
Prom 37: Elgar “The Apostles”, Hallé Orchestra & Choirs, Elder – Review*****
For those of us who have always regarded The Apostles as the least of Elgar’s great trilogy of religious oratorios the magnificence of Mark Elder’s Hallé performance will have coaxed if not demanded re-evaluation. The Albert Hall…
Philharmonia Orchestra, Maazel, Royal Festival Hall
Lorin Maazel may well have set some kind of record here for two of the most protracted and incoherent performances in Mahler history. Even before solo violas had finished tracing out the searching opening line of the…
Massenet “Cendrillon”, Royal Opera House
The words are in French but still familiar – “Once upon a time….” – and the story which follows, Cendrillon (that’s Cinderella to you and me), is writ large across the surfaces of Barbara de Limburg’s set,…