Jazz reviews
Jazz Garry Booth’s latest selection includes legends reunited and classics reimagined Jazz round-up French multi-instrumentalist Cédric Hanriot ’s protean keyboard skills have been much sought after by big stars across the jazz spectrum since he left Berklee College of Music. But his debut as leader, Time Is Color, suggests he’ll soon be operating at the […]
Audio choice
Audio Our expert Chris Haslam gives advice on buying the latest hi-fi equipment Premium active noise-cancelling headphones IDEAL CHOICE FOR TRAVELLING TechnicsEAH-A800 £299 With grown-up looks, premium materials, hi-res-loving Bluetooth 5.2 and a neat, folding design, these headphones are a treat.And with a 50hr battery life, they should appeal to anyone who travels, or simply […]
Books
Books Our critics cast their eyes over this month’s selection of books on classical music Jerusalem – Blake, Parry and the Fight for Englishness Jason Whittaker Oxford University Press 256pp (hb) £25 When my schoolmates and I belted out ‘Jerusalem’ in the 1950s, we knew instinctively what it purveyed: a simple socialist message. But as […]
Brief notes
Brief notes This month’s short selection holds everything from Langgaard to Lang Lang Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 4 etc Lauma Skride (piano) et al MDG 9012216 Lauma Skride gives a poetic reading of Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto – although the balance in the orchestra-piano dialogue in the second movement is misjudged. It’s surrounded by an […]
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World reviews
World Jon Lusk takes a trip in sounds ancient and modern from Australia to Nigeria November round-up We last met Melbourne’s experimental group Bush Gothic in November 2016, and now their third album Beyond The Pale finds them moving outside their early inspiration of traditional bush ballads into more contemporary poems. These address post-penal Australian […]
Instrumental reviews
Instrumental JS Bach 6 Solo Cello Suites (arr. Serino) Giuliano Carmignola (violin) Arcana A533 138:43 mins (2 discs) When Rachel Podger’s inspirational Channel Classics recording of Bach’s cello suites appeared back in July 2019, there were those for whom the cello’s soundworld and physical proclivities were so deeply ingrained that the necessary adjustments to pitch […]
The month in numbers
The month in numbers 116 … years since last being played in the UK, Holst’s Folk Songs from Somerset and Two Songs Without Words have been performed at Cheltenham’s Pittville Pump Room (above). 3 … more years in Sweden for Barbara Hannigan, whose contract as principal guest conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony is extended until […]
Rewind
REWIND: Great artists talk about their past recordings This month: Eugene Drucker Violinist, Emerson String Quartet Our finest moment Beethoven String Quartet No. 13 in B flat major, Op. 130 – Cavatina Emerson String Quartet DG 449 5052 (1996) We had a slight disagreement the day we recorded this. I wanted to begin with one […]
Studio Secrets
Studio Secrets We reveal who’s recording what and where… Linn Records had recordings at Perth Concert Hall and Glyndebourne in September. The latter was Smyth’s opera The Wreckers, conducted by Robin Ticciati, while in Scotland the Dunedin Consort recorded motets by CPE Bach and Mozart’s Mass in C minor. Both recordings are scheduled for release […]