Man, 88, passes grade 8 piano with distinction, 67 years after taking grade 7 Ray Eveleigh says playing helps keep his brain active and wife and daughter encouraged him to go for grade 8 The Guardian - UK · Dec 11, 2024
Brahms for the soul on the night the US election results came in A stirring performance by Víkingur Ólafsson of a piano concerto written amid a period of great sorrow. I think we could relate The Guardian - UK · Nov 9, 2024
Brahms: Piano Sonata No 1; Schubert: Wanderer Fantasy, D760 album review – beautifully shaped works and a bravura performance The French pianist revels in the virtuoso demands of Brahms’s early sonata The Guardian - UK · Nov 7, 2024
WEDO/Barenboim review – optimism and despondency as visionary conductor returns to London Making their second visit to the capital this year, a frail Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra played sun-drenched Mendelssohn and stately Brahms with command and beauty The Guardian - UK · Nov 5, 2024
Williams/Burch; Booth/Waley-Cohen review – persuasive Schubert and superb Kurtág Roderick Williams was vivid and compelling in Schubert’s Schwanengesang, while Claire Booth rose to the challenges of Kafka Fragments The Guardian - UK · Oct 14, 2024
Brahms: Piano Concertos; Piano Pieces Opp 116-119 album review – Levit’s performance is utterly compelling It’s hard to think of a better recording of Brahms’ late solo works for piano, even if the two concertos they are packaged with here are less convincing The Guardian - UK · Oct 10, 2024
Piotr Anderszewski review – exceptional, even by his meticulous standards This programme made largely of miniatures was one to treasure. Anderszewski is a remarkable pianist – no note is out of place, no chord not perfectly balanced The Guardian - UK · Oct 4, 2024
Megalopolis to Industry: a complete guide to this week’s entertainment Francis Ford Coppola’s grandiose, dystopian sci-fi is finally unleashed, and the young City bankers go green with Lord Muck The Guardian - UK · Sep 28, 2024
Proms 53 and 54: BBCSO/Brabbins; Beethoven for Three The Proms’ tribute to Andrew Davis was crowned by a joyous Steve Reich premiere, while the next day saw three outstanding musicians grapple with awkward acoustics The Guardian - UK · Sep 1, 2024
The week in classical: Prom 31: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/ Barenboim; GBSR Duo – review With minimal gestures yet complete control, a now frail Daniel Barenboim returned to the Proms in a concert of exceptional poignancy The Guardian - UK · Aug 17, 2024
Prom 31: West-Eastern Divan Orchestra/Barenboim review – an unforgettable and heroic return Two years after he stepped back from performance, the conductor was back at the Proms – far frailer, but still able to conjure an instant response with a tiny flick of the baton The Guardian - UK · Aug 12, 2024
Prom 9: BBC Scottish SO/Wigglesworth review – meticulous making of unexpected connections Beautiful wind playing in a slow-burning Brahms joined searing strings in Schoenberg and Alice Coote’s fine-grain singing of Mahler for a space-testing night The Guardian - UK · Jul 26, 2024
Brahms: The Symphonies album review – less is more for Nézet-Séguin and the COE With a smaller orchestra than standard, Yannick Nézet-Séguin bring litheness without diminishing any of the symphonies’ power or clarity The Guardian - UK · Jul 11, 2024
James Loughran obituary Conductor who won the inaugural Philharmonia competition and recorded Brahms with the Hallé and Beethoven with the London Symphony Orchestra The Guardian - UK · Jul 4, 2024
The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2024 The week in classical: Igor Levit, Renaud Capuçon, Julia Hagen; Manchester Camerata: Disruptors review – ringing successes Three soloists collaborate to singular effect playing Brahms, while vibrant works old and new are performed by the Camerata ensemble
The Guardian - UK · May 8, 2024 Belcea Quartet/Zimmerman/Queyras review – exquisite, unbuttoned Brahms The Belceas were joined by Tabea Zimmermann and Jean-Guihen Queyras for this revelatory performance of Brahms’s two youthful String Sextets
The Guardian - UK · Feb 22, 2024 Quatuor Agate: Brahms – The String Quartets album review – a suave and refined debut The Paris-based group’s first disc is a wonderfully detailed recording of Brahms quartets that at times might benefit from a more muscular edge
The Guardian - UK · Jan 21, 2024 Igor Levit review – this was a recital where everything was just right In a supremely poetic and impressive performance Levit perfectly conveyed the searching spirit of Brahms’s late-life piano works
The Guardian - UK · Jan 15, 2024 BBCNOW/Martin review – Higgins’ horn concerto is confident, fluent – and life-enhancing Gavin Higgins’ new work, premiered here, takes inspiration from the Forest of Dean, where he grew up. It was brought to vivid and organic life by Ben Goldscheider
The Guardian - UK · Dec 11, 2023 LSO/Noseda review – Prokofiev’s curious Fourth alongside very fine Brahms Gianandrea Noseda and the LSO made a strong case for the 1947 version of Prokofiev’s Fourth symphony, and Simon Trpčeski was an insightful and elegant soloist in Brahms’s second piano concerto
WEKU · Oct 17, 2023 Even Beethoven got bad reviews. John Malkovich reads them aloud as 'The Music Critic' A new live stage show features actor John Malkovich transformed into some of the meanest music critics ever — in real reviews skewering the work of great composers like Beethoven, Brahms and Chopin.
The Guardian - UK · Sep 4, 2023 Poem of the week: September Castles by Peter Davidson Davidson redeems a bitter season with the story of a personal encounter that is also an encounter with poetry
The Guardian - UK · Aug 19, 2023 The week in classical: Proms 38 & 39; Prom 40; Trouble in Tahiti – review Three Hungarian-inspired proms combine sizzling energy, Bartók and dadaist absurdity, while an intimate staging ramps up the angst in a bite-size Bernstein
The Guardian - UK · Jul 24, 2023 Proms at Sage Gateshead review – festival goes north for euphoric weekend that moves from Brahms to barking like dogs With concerts encompassing pop, classical, jazz and a CBeebies family extravaganza, the Proms took over Sage Gateshead for a triumphant communal experience that underlined how music can connect us
The Guardian - UK · May 22, 2023 LSO/Tilson Thomas/Tetzlaff review – Brahms soars and glows In an all Brahms programme, Christian Tetzlaff brought momentum and shape to the Violin Concerto, and Tilson Thomas made every note glow