| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 2-May-2013 Auckland Town Hall | Auckland Philharmonia's Last Songs a mixed bag |
 The Auckland Philharmonia and conductor Jun Märkl presented “Last Songs”, a programme of late works by Schubert, Richard Strauss and Zemlinsky. We opened with Zemlinsky’s Sinfonietta, a work much admired by Schoenberg and Berg. There is a spiky quality to the music that is reminiscent of Hindemith and Stravinsky, though notably less acerbic than either. One can perceive the influences of both Neoclassicism and jazz and the romantic lushness that is a characteristic of Zemlinsky’s earlier work emerges only briefly here.Read full review... | |
| 26-Sep-2012 Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall | Musical drama with Vladimir Jurowski and the London Philharmonic Orchestra |
 Strauss’ Die Frau Ohne Schatten is perhaps his most problematic opera, in that it contains all that is best and worst in him, to the most maddening degrees. Famously he failed to respond instinctively to Hoffmansthal’s symbol-laden libretto, and the music reflects this: though Strauss is at the peak of his powers technically, the opera was effortfully and unenthusiastically composed (we have the composer’s word on this) and the music remains largely earthbound despite its extraordinary energy and endless resource.Read full review... | |
| 9-Nov-2011 Barbican Centre: Hall | Nielsen's flute concerto, a Miraculous Mandarin, and a Mermaid |
 Carl Nielsen had an exceptional understanding of the nuances of woodwind instruments, and when playing the parts he wrote for flautists, the affection is almost palpable. Towards the end of his composing career, he thought of different orchestral instruments as having distinct personalities, and composed their interactions accordingly.Read full review... | |
| 6-Nov-2011 National Theatre | Nasty Children at the Bayerische Staatsoper |
 The pairing of Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges (“The Child and the Spells”) with Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg (“The Dwarf”) is an interesting juxtaposition. The two works have some strong similarities: both were written shortly after 1920, with scenarios by authors who were known for their homosexual promiscuity (Colette, and Oscar Wilde respectively) and both are fairytales, with unpleasant children taking the lead roles.Read full review... | |
