Category: Reviews

  • Thrashing the Sea God

    This review was originally published on I Care If You Listen(.com). You can read it here: http://ht.ly/dpk6Y The Tête à Tête Opera Festival at the Riverside Studios, London, seeks to present new and challenging operatic works and this year featured more than seventy performances representing over thirty companies. The spectrum was incredibly broad and represented…

  • An Eye for an Eye: David Knotts’ Wild Evening with the Papin Sisters

    Review originally published by I Care if You Listen(.com) here: http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2012/08/an-eye-for-an-eye-david-knotts-wild-evening-papin-sisters/ It is not only complete works that are presented at The Tête à Tête Opera Festival (Riverside Studios, London) but it also offers the opportunity to works in progress to get aired publicly and David Knotts’ An Eye for an Eye: A Wild Evening with the…

  • Modern Music: Brad Mehldau, Kevin Hays & Patrick Zimmerli (Nonesuch)

    ~ already published at http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2012/03/modern-music-brad-mehldau-kevin-hays-patrick-zimmerli-nonesuch/ ~ Placing the pianist Brad Mehldau into a particular genre or category seems tricky; being defined as a jazz pianist seems limited for his output and extensive work since the 1990s, including  curation of Jazz series at the Wigmore Hall here in London. The recent release from Nonesuch Records of ‘Modern Music’…

  • Posing Questions: Wolfgang Rihm at 60, London Sinfonietta

    ~ first published at I Care if You Listen ~ 2012 sees the 60th birthday of the prolific composer Wolfgang Rihm and the London Sinfonietta curated a concert that included three UK premieres of Rihm works in addition to two works by composers who at some point in their training were taught by Rihm: Rebecca…

  • Benoît Delbecq and F-IRE Collective members Jiri Slavik/Fred Thomas Duo @ Kings Place

    ~ to appear on I Care If You Listen(.com) shortly ~ I’m a regular visitor to Hall Two at Kings Place, London, and it was lovely to see how well lighting can transform the space into something rather apt for this concert as part of ‘The Base’ jazz programme at the venue. The musicians performing…

  • Thomas Adès: In Seven Days (London Sinfonietta/Signum Records)

    – for I Care if You Listen(.com), forthcoming – A fascinating new release from Signum Classics, and the second with the London Sinfonietta, is ‘In Seven Days’ by the British composer Thomas Adès (b. 1971), alongside arrangements by Adès of two Nancarrow studies for two pianos.  ‘In Seven Days’ is a work for piano and orchestra with…

  • Christmas with NSRO at St. Olave’s Church

    – review for I Care if You Listen(.com), forthcoming – It made a welcome change to a conventional Christmas concert to go and hear in the North Sea Radio Orchestra, supported by Wilderthorn, last Friday. The venue—St Olave’s—is a beautiful church right in the heart of the City. All the prerequisites for a festive event…

  • Written/Unwritten: London Sinfonietta @ Purcell Room, London (18/11/11)

    -this review has been published on I Care If You Listen(.com) http://www.icareifyoulisten.com/2011/11/written-unwritten-london-sinfonietta-purcell-room-southbank-centre-london/ – I’m always keen to hear concerts that attempt to fuse genres and London Sinfonietta’s Written/Unwritten concert at the Purcell Room – as part of the London Jazz Festival – did just that. It brought together players from the ensemble with two jazz musicians –…

  • Nicholas Maw Tribute at QEH

    The British composer Nicholas Maw (1935 – 2009) received mixed reception during his life; dubbed a ‘neo-romantic’ his music was in stark contrast with the European avant-garde. The Telegraph obituary from May 2009 wrote that “at a time when Boulez and Stockhausen were in the ascendant, and the sort of big Romantic pieces Maw was…

  • Brian Elias performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra on NMC

    Brian Elias (b. 1948) spent his early life in Bombay before moving to London. Three of his later orchestral works – all performed by the BBC Symphony Orchestra under three different conductors – are presented on a recently released disc on the British based NMC label. NMC Recordings ‘is devoted to the promotion and preservation…