Author Archives: John

This was a recital of piano music by Knussen, Mozart, Prokofiev and Schubert. Ms Suhanova is a Latvian, UK-trained, pianist in the early stages of her career. None of these works were familiar to me, except the Schubert. I particularly enjoyed the Mozart (K311), which was graceful and fairly swift – there were interesting quirksContinue reading “Antonina Suhanova, piano 11/6/21 Wigmore Hall”

This was a truly absorbing concert, booked-ended by extracts from the Creatures of Prometheus ballet by Beethoven, a piece new to me for string orchestra by Sibelius – Rakstava –  as well as two pieces by Ades – one a UK premiere – and Janacek’s Concertino This is the sort of concert I probably wouldn’tContinue reading “Britten Sinfonia – Thomas Ades. 50th birthday concert 10/6/21 Barbican”

My first concert back in the Bridgewater Hall since Feb 27 2020! I also went to the rehearsal, open to patrons of the Halle, on Wed 2 June, where the focus was on the Glinka and the Elgar. The Halle sounded wonderful for the most part, despite, like the LSO (see a previous blog entry)Continue reading “Elgar/Stravinsky/Glinka – Halle/Elder Manchester 03/06/21”

This (evening) recital was enjoyable – the quartet were playing Haydn (Op 33, no 5), Schumann (Op 41, no 3) and some Scottish folk song pieces written by one of the Quartet players, Duncan Grant. I particularly enjoyed the Haydn; within the perhaps limited frame of reference and the scope of elegance and wit thatContinue reading “Elias Quartet, 27/5/21; Wigmore Hall”

My first foray live into a concert hall since February 27 2020! It was a programme I might previously have thought to be too familiar – I don’t think I will ever take such concerts for granted again.  The Barbican felt comfortably full, despite the socially distanced seating, and indeed the show was a sell-outContinue reading “LSO – Yuja Wang and Michael Tilson Thomas, 27/5/21: Barbican”

So – it finally happened! After 14 and a half months, yesterday I was at a full scale opera again , at Covent Garden. The last time I heard an opera, or indeed an orchestra, was the Marriage of Figaro, given by Opera North on 14 March 2020 at the Salford Lowry Theatre……..Since then –Continue reading “La Clemenza di Tito ROHCG 23/5/21”

After months of hibernation, I have booked a whole range of concerts and operas to see in May, June, July and August. We’ll see how much of this actually happens. I’m – in theory – ready to spring into action as below, and plan to go to: ROHCG – La Clemenza di Tito Halle OrchestraContinue reading “Ready, steady, and ??go…..”

At the Manchester Wagner Society we had a great talk last week about Sir Adrian Boult and ‘what might have been’ if he had been given the chance to conduct more Wagner. The talk was given by Adrian Brown, a student of Sir Adrian’s, a finalist in the von Karajan conducting competition and a veryContinue reading “Sir Adrian Boult and Wagner”

I listened the other day to the Wigmore Hall live stream of the Bach Goldberg Variations played by Pavel Kolesnikov  (271) Pavel Kolesnikov – At Wigmore Hall – YouTube I find this an endlessly absorbing work. I am not qualified to comment on Kolesnikov’s pianistic competence but it seems to me a fine performance. IContinue reading “Goldberg Variations”

I laid out a not inexpensive but thoroughly worthwhile £19 or so on a digital link to the Melbourne Opera recent performance of Das Rheingold which they were streaming for a few days – I had been interested to see it as a result of emailed conversations on Manchester Wagner Society business with its conductorContinue reading “Das Rheingold – Melbourne Digital Concert Hall February 2021”