Reviews

Il barbiere di Siviglia, Royal Opera House (Rated 4/ 5 )

Those umbilically-joined directors Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier don’t always hit the spot – their ‘Hansel und Gretel’ is a queasy concoction – but when they do, the results are glorious, and never more so than with their take on Rossini’s ‘Il barbiere di Siviglia’, now back for its second revival.

Inside Reviews

Budapest Festival Orchestra/ Hough/ Fischer, Royal Festival Hall (Rated 4/ 5 )

Monday, 17 January 2011

The Hungarian Presidency of the EU and the start of the Liszt Bicentennial – two very good reasons for some of Hungary’s (indeed the world’s) finest – the Budapest Festival Orchestra – to party. And bringing Esterhazy to Oxford in Haydn’s Symphony No.92 was as good a way as any for Ivan Fischer’s marvellous orchestra to shine in that very personal way of theirs.

National Youth Orchestra / Järvi, Barbican Hall, London
Madam Butterfly, King's Head Theatre, London

Sunday, 16 January 2011

The country's rising orchestral players and their nimble conductor dance with death – and relish

Album: James Rhodes, Bullets and Lullabies (Warner)

Sunday, 16 January 2011

With disarming candour, Rhodes reveals "what it's like to live in my head for 24 hours".

Album: Mahler, Symphony No 4 – Orchestre des Champs-Elysées (Outhear)

Sunday, 16 January 2011

The 19th-century woodwind instruments infuse Philippe Herreweghe's account of Mahler's Fourth with the thick green smell of buds and leaves.

London Philharmonic Orchestra / Kavakos / Wildner, Royal Festival Hall, London (Rated 3/ 5 )

Saturday, 15 January 2011

There are a handful of examples that I can think of where an unknown conductor has stepped in at the eleventh-hour and created an overnight sensation. This was not one of them.

Album: Various Artists, Klangstudie and Komposition (Other Sounds) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 14 January 2011

One of two compilations released to accompany Dave Henderson's new book tracing the development of electronic music, Journey to a Plugged in State of Mind, Klangstudie and Komposition draws together early works by such pioneering exponents as Herbert Eimert, Bruno Maderna and Karel Goeyvaerts, climaxing with Pierre Boulez's "Po�sie Pour Pouvoir", a substantial work for three orchestras and five-track tape.

Album: Phillippe Herreweghe, Mahler: Symphony No 4 (PHI) (Rated 3/ 5 )

Friday, 14 January 2011

Belgian conductor Philippe Herreweghe has chosen Mahler's Symphony No 4 as the debut release on his PHI label.

Album: Simone Dinnerstein, Bach: A Strange Beauty (Sony Classical) (Rated 4/ 5 )

Friday, 14 January 2011

Simone Dinnerstein's title derives from the 16th-century philosopher Francis Bacon's contention that "there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion", which she illustrates with interpretations of Bach's Keyboard Concertos Nos 1 & 5 and several of his solo piano pieces, of which Kempff's fastidious arrangement of "Nun Freut Euch, Lieben Christen Gmein" offers the most dazzling display of her virtuosity.