| Date and venue | Title |
|---|---|
| 10-May-2013 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Quartet for the End of Time at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 The fascinating Rest is Noise festival at Southbank Centre has now reached its mid-point, with the focus on music created out of oppression and war. In Friday night’s chamber concert at Queen Elizabeth Hall two pieces written in the most straitened circumstances during the Second World War were presented: Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio, a haunting lament for the tragic victims of the war and conflict in general, and Messiaen’s extraordinary Quatuor pour la fin du temps (“Quartet for the End of Time”), composed and premièred in a German prisoner of war camp.Read full review... | |
| 29-Apr-2013 Wigmore Hall | Preludes and pictures: Alexander Gavrylyuk debuts at Wigmore Hall |
 Stepping in for the indisposed Cédric Tiberghien, the Ukrainian-born Australian pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk wowed Wigmore Hall’s lunchtime audience with a debut concert replete in masterful displays of pianism, in the purest meaning of the word.
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| 8-Apr-2013 Wigmore Hall | The soul of Chopin: Janina Fialkowska at Wigmore Hall |
 Canadian pianist Janina Fialkowska has Polish blood in her veins (her father is Polish), and she was described by her pianistic idol, Arthur Rubinstein, as “a natural born Chopin interpreter”. This assertion was more than confirmed by a carefully executed and beautifully nuanced lunchtime concert of music by Fryderyk Chopin at London’s Wigmore Hall.
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| 12-Mar-2013 St John's Smith Square | A birthday happening for Stephen Montague at St John's Smith Square |
.jpg) It’s not every day that one goes to a dinner party at lunchtime, but this was a rather special dinner party – A Dinner Party for John Cage. It formed the centerpiece of a lunchtime “happening” at St John’s Smith Square to celebrate the 70th birthday of American-British composer Stephen Montague.
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| 6-Mar-2013 Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall | Magical Mitsuko: Bach, Schoenberg and Schumann at the Royal Festival Hall |
 As part of this year’s International Piano Series at the Southbank Centre, Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida gave a highly absorbing and exquisitely presented performance of works by Bach, Schoenberg and Schumann.Read full review... | |
| 21-Jan-2013 Wigmore Hall | A feast of virtuosity: Yevgeny Sudbin at Wigmore Hall |
 It is rare to be at a concert where one is utterly captivated from the first note until the very last has faded to silence, but such was the effect of Russian pianist Yevgeny Sudbin on a packed Wigmore Hall at his lunchtime recital of works by Scarlatti, Chopin, Liszt, Scriabin and Saint-Saëns.
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| 9-Jan-2013 Wigmore Hall | Understated bravado: Leon McCawley at Wigmore Hall |
 Acclaimed British pianist Leon McCawley opened the Wigmore Hall’s 2013 London Pianoforte Series with a varied programme of piano music by masters of the instrument spanning two centuries, from Bach to Rachmaninov.
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| 31-Oct-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Benjamin Grosvenor at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 Young British pianist Benjamin Grosvenor has been much in the news lately: the recipient of two Gramophone Awards (Young Artist of the Year and Instrumental Award for his debut disc), and winner of the Critics’ Award at the 2012 Classic Brits. And he’s in great demand as a performer, if his diary is anything to go by.Read full review... | |
| 1-Oct-2012 Wigmore Hall | Fleet fingers and sound showers: Noriko Ogawa at the Wigmore Hall |
 It was fitting that critically acclaimed Japanese pianist Noriko Ogawa should open her Wigmore Hall lunchtime concert with a work by one of her countrymen: Rain Tree Sketch II by Toru Takemitsu. Not only does this piece of late 20th-century impressionism draw direct influences from the music of Debussy, which formed the bulk of the programme, it was performed on a day when many people came into the Wigmore shaking rain from umbrellas, hats and raincoats.
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| 3-Sep-2012 Cadogan Hall | Proms Chamber Music 8: Overwhelmed by Debussy – Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Cadogan Hall |
 Pierre-Laurent Aimard is a pianist who really likes to get inside the music he performs, whether Liszt, Boulez, Messiaen, or, as in the case of his Chamber Prom at Cadogan Hall (the last of the 2012 season), Debussy. In a concert to celebrate the sesquicentennial anniversary of Debussy’s birth, Aimard demonstrated not only his tremendous technical facility, but also his artistry and profound understanding of his compatriot’s oeuvre, the result, as Aimard admits, of being “overwhelmed” by Debussy from a young age.
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| 1-Sep-2012 Kings Place: Hall One | Beauty In the Dark: Platinum Consort at Kings Place |
 In the spare modern elegance of Hall One at Kings Place, choral octet Platinum Consort, under the direction of their founder and conductor Scott Inglis-Kidger, gave an impressive and impeccably presented performance of works from their critically acclaimed recording In the Dark, written for, or inspired by, the Tenebrae tradition.
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| 6-Aug-2012 Cadogan Hall | Proms Chamber Music 4: Limitless possibilities – Debussy and Ravel at Cadogan Hall |
 It’s rare to be at a concert, of any genre, and to experience a very profound sense of involvement on the part of the performers, combined with total commitment to the music, both in terms of fidelity to the written score and integrity of performance. But that is what we enjoyed at the fourth chamber music Prom of the season, in a concert by three young performers (two of whom were making their Proms debut) of music by Debussy and Ravel.
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| 30-Jul-2012 Cadogan Hall | Proms Chamber Music 3: Sensual rituals with L'Arpeggiata at Cadogan Hall |
 In a programme inspired by “tarantism”, the delirium caused by the bite of the tarantula spider, and the sensual rituals and hypnotic healing powers of the Tarantella, early-music and Baroque crossover group L’Arpeggiata transported the audience of Cadogan Hall to the seductive heat of southern Italy with a mesmerizing concert of music by Monteverdi, Strozzi, contemporary Italian composer Marcello Vitale, and more.
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| 2-Jul-2012 Wigmore Hall | Erotic and Exotic: François-Frédéric Guy and Jean-Efflam Bavouzet at Wigmore Hall |
 In a neat piece of programming, Monday’s Wigmore Hall lunchtime concert brought together two French master-pianists to play two French masterpieces for the ballet, Debussy’s Jeux and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, both transcribed for two pianos.
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| 15-May-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Wit, Woe and Warmth: Lars Vogt at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 German-born pianist Lars Vogt has an established reputation as a concerto soloist, a recitalist, and a committed chamber musician, enjoying partnerships with esteemed musicians such as Christian Tetzlaff and Thomas Quasthoff. He is involved in many festivals, including one in a power station (with the power turned off) in the German town of Heimbach.
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| 7-May-2012 Wigmore Hall | Portraits and Dedications: Leon McCawley at Wigmore Hall |
 A lunchtime recital at the Wigmore Hall is always a pleasure, and a welcome opportunity to pause for an hour or so to enjoy exceptionally high-quality music in a fine setting, and today’s concert, given by pianist Leon McCawley was no exception.
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| 1-May-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Sense and Sensuality: Yuja Wang at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 It’s hard to ignore Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, and sometimes for the wrong reasons: the controversy about That Dress (a daringly short designer frock paired with killer heels) ruffled some feathers amongst traditional classical music critics and concertgoers, and provoked a healthy debate about concert attire.Read full review... | |
| 29-Mar-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Command and Refinement: Leif Ove Andsnes at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 The excellent International Piano Series at the Southbank Centre continued with a fine recital of music by Haydn, Bartók, Debussy and Chopin by acclaimed and very popular (judging by the full house) Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes.
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| 20-Mar-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Power, Richness and Logic: François-Frédéric Guy at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 With his wild hair and frowning brow, French pianist François-Frédéric Guy bears more than a passing likeness to Ludwig van Beethoven, so it seemed entirely appropriate to be listening to a recital in which the Frenchman played three of the Old Radical’s most well-loved and well-known piano sonatas, nicknamed the ‘Pastoral’, the ‘Moonlight’ and the ‘Hammerklavier’. This was part of both the Southbank Centre’s ongoing and highly varied International Piano Series, and Guy’s personal voyage through the entire cycle of Beethoven’s piano sonatas.
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| 5-Mar-2012 Wigmore Hall | Passionate Intensity: Khatia Buniatishvili and Truls Mørk at Wigmore Hall |
 There can be few more civilized ways to spend a Monday lunchtime than at a concert at the delightful Wigmore Hall, where one can escape the bustle of Oxford Street for an hour of quality chamber music. Today’s performers, the Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili and Norwegian cellist Truls Mørk, did not disappoint, in a programme featuring music from the core of the piano and cello repertoire: sonatas by Beethoven and Rachmaninov.
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| 28-Feb-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Travels with a Piano: Peter Donohoe at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 Elder statesman of British pianism and soloist of international renown, Peter Donohoe gave a richly varied and, at times, highly emotional recital as part of the Southbank Centre’s ongoing International Piano Series, featuring music by Debussy, Liszt, Brahms and Bartok.
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| 6-Feb-2012 Wigmore Hall | Piano Adventures: Marc-André Hamelin at Wigmore Hall |
 Fran Kaufman.jpg) Canadian pianist (and sometime composer) Marc-André Hamelin can play anything. Or so it would appear from his recital at Wigmore Hall last night, his first concert in London following his dazzling all-Liszt Prom last Summer. He wowed the audience with an adventurous programme spanning almost two centuries of radical creative impulses, from Haydn to Stockhausen, and featuring large-scale works by Liszt and Villa-Lobos along the way.
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| 31-Jan-2012 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Ballades and Blues: Peter Jablonski at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 Peter Jablonski’s contribution to the Southbank Centre’s ongoing International Piano Series was an unusual mixture of music from nineteenth-century Europe and twentieth-century America, featuring works by Liszt, Grieg, Gershwin, Copland and Barber.
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| 6-Dec-2011 Wigmore Hall | Restless Narratives and Fugitive Visions: Khatia Buniatishvili at Wigmore Hall |
 As the Liszt bicentenary year draws to a close, Georgian pianist Khatia Buniatishvili offered her own contribution to the celebrations in a sold-out recital at the Wigmore Hall, featuring music by Liszt, Chopin and Prokofiev.
Opening with Liszt’s transcription of J S Bach’s Prelude and Fugue for organ in A minor, BWV 543, a work of stern and imposing grandeur, she quickly stamped her authority on the evening with displays of virtuosic and sensitive pianism.
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| 8-Nov-2011 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | Illuminating Pianism: The Liszt Project 1- Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Queen Elizabeth Hall |
 French pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard gave the first of two concerts at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall to celebrate Franz Liszt’s bicentenary, and to coincide with the release of his ambitious recording, The Liszt Project.
In an inventive and impeccably performed programme, Aimard placed works by Liszt alongside music by Bartok, contemporary composer Marco Stroppa, Ravel and Messiaen to demonstrate Liszt’s profound and lasting influence, and as a way of blurring the borders between one style and another. Connections were made not just musically, but also thematically and metaphorically in a spell-binding concert of intense concentration and illuminating pianism.
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| 21-Oct-2011 Wigmore Hall | Moonlight Reflections: Di Xiao at Wigmore Hall |
| Chinese pianist Di Xiao is already making a name for herself with sell-out concerts in many of Europe’s most prestigious venues and a triumphant tour of China, as well as two recordings. Her debut recital at London’s Wigmore Hall was a programme conjuring up images of moonlight while “illuminating other byways along the way”.
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| 20-Oct-2011 St John's Smith Square | Serenity and Seriousness: Joy and James Lisney at St John's, Smith Square |
 St John’s, Smith Square, is one of London’s loveliest concert venues. A Baroque church, situated in the heart of Westminster, amongst government offices and ministerial departments, it boasts a fine acoustic, and is host to a varied programme of concerts throughout the year.
This, the first of two concerts presented by pianist James Lisney to highlight the fiftieth anniversary of Amnesty International, featured solo piano works by Chopin and Schubert, and music for cello and piano by Chopin and Lutoslawski, played by Lisney’s daughter, Joy.
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| 4-Oct-2011 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | A glimpse across Mozart’s writing desk |
| The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE) is nothing if not innovative: there’s The Night Shift, a late-night concert series, and Purcell in a Pub, and now there’s The Works, a fun and informal way to learn more about a classical masterpiece in which the work is deconstructed and analysed before a full performance.
In this, the first of the series, Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 23 came under the spotlight, and our guide for the evening was the charismatic and renowned Mozart scholar and pianist, Robert Levin.
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| 19-Sep-2011 Wigmore Hall | Till Fellner at Wigmore Hall |
 Viennese pianist Till Fellner has gained a reputation for his interpretations of masterpieces from central European repertoire, and his enjoyable lunchtime recital featured well-known and well-loved pieces by Haydn, Schumann and Liszt.
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| 13-Sep-2011 Southbank Centre: Purcell Room | Sur America Toda! Clara Rodriguez & Friends |
| London-based Venezuelan pianist Clara Rodriguez and friends brought the heady and exotic rhythms and sounds of South America to a windy Southbank in a delightfully relaxed concert of chamber music at the Purcell Room.
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| 12-Sep-2011 Wigmore Hall | Passion and Poetry: Lise de la Salle at Wigmore Hall |
 The first lunchtime concert of the Wigmore Hall’s autumn season featured young French pianist Lise de la Salle. With her 'glamour model' looks, Lise de la Salle could easily be dismissed as a “piano babe”, but at only 23, she is already making a name for herself, particularly through her recording of first concertos of Liszt, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.Read full review... | |
| 5-Sep-2011 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 68: Fantastic, Radical, Romantic |
 The final week of the 2011 Proms season began with a flamboyant and exhilarating concert given by the superb Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, who celebrate their 110th anniversary this year. They were joined by pianist Hélène Grimaud, playing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto, the piece with which she made her Proms debut in 2001.
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| 24-Aug-2011 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 54: Late Night Liszt |
 In a setting Liszt himself would have approved of – the grand hall, the plush red velvet swags and tails, the full nine feet of gleaming Steinway stretched across a stage bathed in a curious blue light, the eager Prommers craning in expectation – Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin celebrated the composer’s 200th birthday in a recital of coruscating virtuosity and extreme pianism.
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| 22-Jul-2011 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 10: Postcards from Spain |
 Prom 10 was a heady mix of Franco-Spanish music, from Debussy’s evocative Images for orchestra to Manual de Falla’s exotic Nights in the Gardens of Spain, all under the baton, appropriately, of Basque-born conductor Juanjo Mena, who takes over as Chief Conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in September.
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| 18-Jul-2011 Cadogan Hall | Spellbound by Bach |
 At the splendid venue that is Cadogan Hall, just north of London’s Sloane Square, Iranian-born harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani demonstrated J S Bach’s immense skill and ingenuity in a spellbinding performance of the Goldberg Variations, one of the high Himalayan peaks of the keyboard repertoire.
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| 4-Jul-2011 Wigmore Hall | Mists and Storms: Imogen Cooper at Wigmore Hall |
 Long recognised worldwide as a player of virtuosity and poise, it’s hard to pigeon-hole British pianist Imogen Cooper, though she has undoubtedly made her mark with her interpretations of classical repertoire (her ‘Schubert Live’ recordings have received much critical acclaim). Her programme today reflected her commitment to repertoire beyond the great Viennese triumvirate of Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, opening with a selection of Debussy’s Préludes from Book 2, and closing with one of the most ravishing of Chopin’s works, the Fourth Ballade.Read full review... | |
| 28-Jun-2011 Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall | Shifting Soundscapes: Maurizio Pollini at the Royal Festival Hall |
 In an exhilarating finale, Italian pianist Maurizio Pollini’s fascinating series at the Royal Festival Hall, ‘The Pollini Project’, closed with a concert focusing on the music of Chopin, Debussy and Boulez. This was meant to be the penultimate concert in the series, but was rescheduled due to ill health. The Pollini Project has been a personal survey of keyboard music from Bach to Boulez, and has included the final three sonatas of both Beethoven and Schubert.
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| 27-Jun-2011 Wigmore Hall | Elisabeth Leonskaja at Wigmore Hall |
 The popularity of mercurial Elisabeth Leonskaja amongst audiences has never been higher, perhaps because she is one of “the last of the great Russian school” (Sean Rafferty), a performer whose heritage links her to one of the greatest, her friend and mentor, Sviatoslav Richter. Her musical outlook is fiercely independent, and not always to everyone’s taste.Read full review... | |
| 19-Jun-2011 Sutton House, Homerton High Street | 'Reason and Romance': Penelope Roskell at Sutton House |
 In the last concert of the season at Sutton House, Penelope Roskell, acclaimed British pianist and Professor of Piano and Piano pedagogy at London's Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, juxtaposed the reason and intellect of Bach with the mercurial romance of Schumann in a fascinating and very well-attended concert.
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| 6-Jun-2011 Wigmore Hall | French Intimacy: Angela Hewitt at Wigmore Hall |
 There is something eminently civilized about dropping into London’s Wigmore Hall for a lunchtime concert. Escaping the noisy, jostling crowds of Oxford Street, one can slip into a plushy seat and enjoy an hour of quality chamber music.
French intimacy was the theme of a recital given by Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt, in which she coupled two of Bach’s French Suites (BWV813 and BWV814) with a handful of miniatures by Chopin, pieces which were composed in the French capital (a city which Bach himself never visited).
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| 23-May-2011 Wigmore Hall | Love, Loss and Longing: Ian Bostridge at Wigmore Hall |
 Back in London after a sell-out US tour, English tenor Ian Bostridge CBE, with his wonderful pianist Julius Drake, proved his extraordinary range and versatility as a singer with a programme featuring music by Tippett, Britten, Bach, Haydn and Weill. This special concert had an extra resonance, as it marked Sir John Tusa’s last day as Chairman of the Wigmore Hall Trust.
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| 15-May-2011 Southbank Centre: Queen Elizabeth Hall | 'At Home' with Charles and Fryderyk: Charles Rosen plays Chopin |
 “He looks rather Churchillian, doesn’t he?” my friend whispered as the lights dimmed, and Charles Rosen tottered on stage with the help of a walking stick, which he hooked over the edge of the piano. The comparison seemed appropriate, for Charles Rosen is truly a grand elder statesman of the piano. Taught by the great Moritz Rosenthal, a pupil of Liszt, Rosen is that rare phenomenon - a renowned scholar, teacher, writer and musical philosopher, equally at home on the pianist’s bench as in the university lecture hall.
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| 17-Apr-2011 Kings Place: Hall One | Beautifully Nuanced: Leon McCawley at King’s Place |
 In the cultural oasis of King’s Place, only five minutes from the noisy, bustling King’s Cross and St Pancras stations, British pianist Leon McCawley performed the complete piano sonatas of Mozart in a series of four recitals over one weekend.
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