Denon and Marantz took me to hi-fi and home cinema heaven with its £200,000 reference system, and it sounded out of this world I'd better start saving… What Hi-Fi? · May 20
Shostakovich: Symphonies No 2 and 5 album review – early experiment meets mature power Conductor John Storgårds pairs Shostakovich’s radical youthful 2nd symphony with the more assured 5th, in performances that emphasise clarity over drama The Guardian - UK · Apr 3
Yamaha C-5000/M-5000 Yamaha’s classy 5000-series pre/power is beautifully made and performs with a rare sense of poise. What Hi-Fi? · Feb 2
Aurender A1000 The Aurender A1000 is a properly sorted music server/streamer with fine build and a capable performance. What Hi-Fi? · Jan 27
Sex, death and parrots: Julian Barnes’s best fiction – ranked! As the Booker prize-winning author prepares to publish his final novel at 80, we assess his finest work The Guardian - UK · Jan 19
BBCNOW/ Bancroft/ Gerhardt review – intriguing connections, magic and melancholy beauty An imaginatively programmed concert featured Anders Hillborg alongside Sibelius and Shostakovich – with Alban Gerhardt the impeccable soloist in the latter’s second cello concerto The Guardian - UK · Jan 10
Even Happy Birthday has a dark side: my quest to tell the history of the world in 50 pieces of music The Nazis adopted Beethoven’s Ode to Joy. Happy Birthday hides a tale of corporate greed. And Putin uses Shostakovich’s Leningrad symphony as a call to arms. That’s why I put them in my soundtrack to the complexities of human existence The Guardian - UK · Dec 17, 2025
From shiveringly vivid Mahler to the eclectic Hermes Experiment: our top classical recordings of 2025 Opera may be conspicuous by its absence, but the brilliance of Berlin Philharmonic’s Schoenberg and the exceptional South Korean Yunchan Lim gave us plenty to sink our teeth into this year The Guardian - UK · Dec 11, 2025
CBSO/Vänskä review – weird brilliance and neurotic tics in a compelling programme Soprano Helena Juntunen brought Sibelius’ vocal works to dramatic life in a remarkable concert that paired the Finnish composer with late Shostakovich The Guardian - UK · Nov 20, 2025
From One Battle After Another to the Turner prize: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead Paul Thomas Anderson takes on Thomas Pynchon in his new film, while Bradford hosts the often controversial annual art contest The Guardian - UK · Sep 27, 2025
Rodion Shchedrin obituary Russian pianist and composer of startlingly diverse orchestral works, ballet music and operas The Guardian - UK · Sep 10, 2025
Chineke! Orchestra/Heyward review – kaleidoscopic concert combines energy and complexity The ethnically diverse orchestra played with vigour and spirit in a programme that included Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Shostakovich and Valerie Coleman The Guardian - UK · Sep 7, 2025
Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District review – semi-staged Shostakovich is vivid and claustrophobic With Nicky Spence and Amanda Majeski the striking leads, the nastiness in Shostakovich’s ‘tragic satire’ was disturbing and powerful in an impressive Proms performance The Guardian - UK · Sep 2, 2025
BBCNOW/Bancroft/Grosvenor review – from the brilliantly bonkers to heavyweight Shostakovich Sofia Gubaidulina’s Revue Music for Symphony Orchestra and Jazz Band was an eccentric and joyful delight and Benjamin Grosvenor dazzled in Ravel’s bluesy Piano Concerto in this BBC National Orchestra of Wales prom The Guardian - UK · Aug 18, 2025
The Guardian - UK · Aug 17, 2025 Aurora Orchestra/Collon review – high impact and high intensity as Shostakovich’s fifth is brought to life A blistering performance of Shostakovich’s fifth symphony was preceded by a virtuosic and spectacular dramatic exploration the work that, however, could have had more bite
The Guardian - UK · Aug 7, 2025 Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos 1 & 3; Two Scherzos album review – deft execution of the Russian’s early exuberance Capturing the momentum of two of Shostakovich’s first Soviet-era symphonies, this performance adds a pair of scherzos that pre-date even them
The Guardian - AU · Jul 27, 2025 Piano virtuoso Alexander Gavrylyuk: ‘It is unfortunate to see music as a competition. It is a uniting force’ The pianist will play Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1 and George Gershwin’s joyful Rhapsody in Blue in ‘a masterstroke in programming’ by the ACO
The Guardian - UK · Jun 22, 2025 Penarth chamber music festival review – scaled-down Mahler’s Fourth Symphony emerges as if newly minted The joy and anarchy of Mahler were brilliantly captured, alongside wild Shostakovich and mellow Brahms
Evening Standard · May 16, 2025 The Best of the 2025 BBC Proms: 20 picks, from Chineke! to Mozart As the Proms head back to London, another season of music variety beckons. Nick Kimberley picks out the ones worth grabbing tickets for
The Guardian - UK · Apr 30, 2025 Carducci Quartet review – terror and tumult as Shostakovich focus widens The group were joined by the Elmore, Kyan and Oculus quartets to perform three of Shostakovich’s quartets alongside a newer work by Elena Firsova
The Guardian - UK · Apr 28, 2025 RPO/Petrenko review – a blistering, multi-hued Shostakovich Conductor Vasily Petrenko didn’t put a foot wrong in this Multitudes festival performance of the Leningrad Symphony, the drama enhanced by evocative video imagery by Kirill Serebrennikov and Ilya Shagalov
The Guardian - UK · Apr 25, 2025 Oh to Believe in Another World review – Gripping Kentridge and Shostakovich bring Stalin’s age of betrayal to life The artist’s potent animated film played against a superb live account of the 10th Symphony from Marin Alsop and the Philharmonia Orchestra
The Guardian - UK · Apr 23, 2025 BBC announces 2025 Proms lineup – including first female-fronted Last Night The 86 concerts this summer will include anniversary celebrations of Shostakovich, Ravel and Boulez, a Traitors-themed Prom presented by Claudia Winkleman – and a record number of female conductors
The Guardian - UK · Mar 23, 2025 ACO/Tognetti review – a masterclass in chamber music-making The Australian Chamber Orchestra played with fearlessness, curiosity and style in music by Bach, Shostakovich and, most poignantly, Sofia Gubaidulina, who died earlier this month
The Guardian - UK · Mar 6, 2025 Organised Delirium: Piano Sonatas by Boulez, Shostakovich, Bartók and Eisler album review – coruscating and exceptional Stefanovich brings total mastery, athleticism and power to her recordings of Boulez’s second sonata, and other 20th-century piano works