| Date and venue | Title | Submitted by |
|---|---|---|
| 12-Dec-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | The LSO and Gergiev in Brahms and Szymanowski 4 | Chris Garlick |
 The first half of the 20th century must surely be one of the most richly creative periods in history. This was a time of great social and political change, spearheaded by two most devastating wars that saw death and destruction on a new level of cold efficiency. Rising from the ashes of this massive upheaval, the arts produced a glorious outpouring of works and ideas not seen since the renaissance and never on this scale.Read full review... | ||
| 2-Dec-2012 The Royal Conservatory of Music, TELUS Centre, Koerner Hall | Thumbs up for Denis Matsuev's all-Russian concert at Koerner Hall | Stanley Fefferman |
 His build is blocky like the hockey defense-man he once was, but Denis Matsuev’s fingers can touch piano keys lightly as butterflies landing on begonias. The mood of his solo recital opened blissfully, like the January night by the fireplace described in Puskin’s poem “By the Hearth” which inspired the first of the twelve monthly miniatures Tchaikovsky published as The Seasons, Op. 37b. These are lyrical works that sing in folk and popular dance idioms of love and nostalgia for times gone by.Read full review... | ||
| 1-Nov-2012 Oslo Concert Hall (Konserthus) | Rachmaninov and Nielsen with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra | Aksel Tollåli |
 Thursday’s concert with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra started not with music, but with an award ceremony. It was the Norwegian Sibelius Society that gave away its annual award for the strengthening of cultural ties between Norway and Finland. Present were the Sibelius Society’s chair Stephan Barratt-Due, Finland’s ambassador to Norway Maimo Henriksson, and the recipient of the award, Sinikka Langeland. After she received the award, she sang a traditional Forest Finnish song, accompanying herself on the kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument.Read full review... | ||
| 4-Sep-2012 Hollywood Bowl | Denis Matsuev and Krzysztof Urbański at the Hollywood Bowl | Ted Ayala |
 The name of last Tuesday’s Hollywood Bowl concert was “Three Russian Masters.” That’s Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich, whose music made up the program that night, by the way. But it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the audience got to hear a fourth Russian master: pianist Denis Matsuev.
Read full review... | ||
| 24-Apr-2012 Southbank Centre: Royal Festival Hall | The Philharmonia Orchestra in Sibelius, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky | Alan Yu, alanayu.wordpress.com |
 As I listened to the opening work in the Philharmonia Orchestra’s concert on Tuesday night, I couldn’t help thinking that Sibelius’ tone poem Night Ride and Sunrise is the musical equivalent of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Similar to the theme in this play, the main theme in the symphonic work, depicting a lone horseman’s nocturnal gallop through the forest, is repetitive and at points rather dreary.Read full review... | ||
| 21-Feb-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | Russian Masterworks at the Barbican with Gergiev | James Potter |
 Russian was the theme and Russian the temperament in this concert, part of an ongoing series at the Barbican. This particular group of "Gergiev's Russians" consisted of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, and Shostakovich, in music spanning seventy years of compositional history. The works played tonight offered different perspectives on the idea of musical classicism, a concept central to the formation of twentieth-century Russian music. Each composer was preoccupied in a different way with the classical traditions that preceded them.
Read full review... | ||
| 13-Oct-2011 De Doelen: Grote Zaal | RPHO's Fantastic Tchaikovksy | Renée Reitsma, ypgtcm.blogspot.com |
| This fall the Rotterdam Philharmonic have a series of concerts under the title of “Russische Herfst” (“Russian Autumn”) – with music from some of the great Russian composers such as Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. The opening night revolved around Pjotr Ilyich Tchaikovksy – the orchestra played two pieces, the First Piano Concerto and Fourth Symphony and ensured a great beginning to the series.
Read full review... | ||
