Bachfest Leipzig II
..this festival was one of the most inspiring I have been to in many years – a model of how to use a contemporary city to bring to life the most rewarding music….
Bachfest Leipzig I
When CPE Bach programmed a charity concert in Hamburg on 9 April 1786 he unwittingly proved to us two centuries later that he was as good an artistic director as he was a composer…
Dresden Festival 2022
Dresden is looking very smart these days and, judging by the number of visitors thronging the central square, the Neumarkt, and its cafés, doing very nicely in the early Summer sunshine…
Andermatt Winter Festival II
Sometimes, luckily, fine musicians rise to an occasion despite a small audience, an eccentric location and a useless conductor. Such was the case when the very fine Russian violinist, Nikita Boriso-Glebsky performed Beethoven’s concerto in the basement hall at Andermatt…
Andermatt Winter Festival – Barenboim
Listening to Barenboim live this late in his career (he is 78) is an exceptionally rewarding but complicated experience. In many ways he never was a piano virtuoso, splashing out the notes to impress and amaze with his skill. Instead his pianism has always been about exploration and education – pointing out aspects of the music he finds important, just as he does as a conductor…
Karlskrona International Piano Festival III – Karlskrona, Sweden
That Leonard Bernstein’s piano version of his friend, Aaron Copland’s picture of dance halls in the 1930s, El Salon Mexico should have appeared twice in the same day in Karlskrona was a coincidence waiting to happen. Julia Marin had heard Peter Jablonski play it in Bucharest a year ago and immediately decided she must add it to her repertoire. She has, very successfully, though playing it at lunchtime before her inspirer was due to tackle it in the evening was daring…