Author Archives: John

Schumann, Piano Concerto in A minor; Smetana, Má vlast. Víkingur Ólafsson, piano;  Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko, conductor  I have never heard Víkingur Ólafsson play anything other than Bach and Mozart live, so I was looking forward to hearing what he did with the Schumann concerto. And I have never heard the whole of Ma VlastContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 55: Berliner Philharmoniker, Kirill Petrenko. RAH, 31/8/24”

Vítězslava Kaprálová, Military Sinfonietta; Dvořák, Piano Concerto in G minor; Janáček Glagolitic Mass. Mao Fujita, piano; Corinne Winters, soprano; Bella Adamova, mezzo-soprano; David Butt Philip, tenor; Brindley Sherratt, bass – replaced b Pavel Švingr; Christian Schmitt, organ; The City of Prague Philharmonic Choir, Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša, conductor I made a fairly late decision toContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 50 – Czech Philharmonic, Hrusa. RAH, 28/8/24”

Bach, Mompou and Liszt. I went to a lunchtime concert today before the evening concert. The brief programme note indicated that Cristo Harijan is a “22 year old pianist who has just concluded his final year as an undergraduate studying with Murray Mclachlan at the Royal Northern College of Music, Cristo graduated with a first,Continue reading “St James, Piccadilly: Cristo Harijan, piano – 28/8/24 “

Dvořák, Cello Concerto in B minor; Josef Suk, SymphonyNo. 2, ‘Asrael’. Anastasia Kobekina, cello; Czech Philharmonic, Jakub Hrůša,conductor Doomsters this year were saying that the Proms would last 6weeks only and that the big foreign orchestras were no longer going to beaffordable for the Proms. But, lo and behold, we have three of the topContinue reading “BBC Proms: Prom 49 – Czech Philharmonic, Hrusa. RAH, 27/8/24”

 Tchaikovsky, Violin Concerto in D major op. 35; Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5 in D minor op. 47. Lisa Batiashvili Violin; Oslo Philharmonic; Klaus Mäkelä Conductor …..So, the last concert of my 10 day trip to Bayreuth and Salzburg……….And here was Klaus with his ‘old’ orchestra, from the time when he only had one to dealContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Oslo Philharmonic, Makela – Felsenreitschule; 21/8/24”

Timur Zangiev Conductor; Peter Sellars, Director; George Tsypin, Sets; Camille Assaf, Costumes; James F. Ingalls Lighting. Peixin Chen, The General; Asmik Grigorian, Polina; Sean Panikkar, Alexey Ivanovich; Violeta Urmana, the ‘Babulenka’ ; Juan Francisco Gatell, The Marquis ; Michael Arivony, Mr Astley; Nicole Chirka, Blanche; Zhengyi Bai, Prince Nilsky; Ilia Kazakov, Baron Wurmerhelm. Concert AssociationContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Prokofiev: The Gambler – Felsenreitschule; 20/8/24”

Schoenberg, String Quartet No 1 in D minor op. 7; Beethoven, String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor op. 131. Belcea Quartet  It’s been raining for most of the day and I still have two whole days after this one for touristy stuff before evening performances. So I wandered around and went only to theContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Schoenberg, Beethoven – Stiftung Mozarteum – Grosser Saal; 19/8/24”

Oleg Ptashnikov, replacing Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla Conductor; Krzysztof Warlikowski Director; Małgorzata Szczęśniak Sets and Costumes; Felice Ross Lighting; Kamil Polak Video; Claude Bardouil Choreography. Bogdan Volkov, Prince Lev Nikolayevich Myshkin; Ausrine Stundyte, Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova ; Vladislav Sulimsky,  Parfyon Semyonovich Rogozhin; Iurii Samoilov, Lukyan Timofeyevich Lebedev; Clive Bayley, Ivan Fyodorovich Yepanchin, general; Margarita Nekrasova.  Yelizaveta ProkofyevnaContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Weinberg: The Idiot – Felsenreitschule; 18/8/24”

Mozart: Six German Dances K. 509; Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major K. 364; Divertimento for strings in F major K. 138; Symphony in D major, ’Paris’ K. 297. Clara-Jumi Kang, violin; Timothy Ridout, viola. Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Andrew Manze Conductor This was a nicely balanced programme with several work of Mozart’s earlier years (one aContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Mozart: Stiftung Mozarteum – Grosser Saal; 18/8/24”

Schubert: Piano Sonata in G major D. 894; Die schöne Müllerin – Song cycle, D. 795. Julian Prégardien Tenor, András Schiff Pianoforte …..and so, on to Salzburg, neither the Festival nor indeed the city of which I have ever visited before, after the sadly usual rail chaos (train arriving late in Munich so missed myContinue reading “Salzburg Festival – Schubert: Stiftung Mozarteum Grosser Saal; 17/8/24    “