| Date and venue | Title | Submitted by |
|---|---|---|
| 26-Apr-2013 Walt Disney Concert Hall | Jean-Yves Thibaudet and Lionel Bringuier with the LA Philharmonic in Saint-Säens and Ravel | Alan Yu, alanayu.wordpress.com |
 It was the golden jubilee of Saint-Säens as a concert pianist, and in celebration he performed his crowning glory, the Piano Concerto no. 5 in F, “Egyptian”, which he composed while on tour in Luxor, incorporating exotic Middle Eastern melodies and rhythms. The concerto is not known to be given over to excessive fin de siècle romanticism, and whatever there was Jean-Yves Thibaudet certainly didn’t overindulge in.Read full review... | ||
| 16-Mar-2013 Usher Hall | Nicola Benedetti's Siver Violin tour at Edinburgh's Usher Hall | Jeremy Morris |
 Last night’s concert in the Usher Hall contained so many different strands, that it defies simple categorisation. One of a series of nine concerts in Scotland, its first objective was clearly to promote Miss Benedetti’s latest CD, The Silver Violin. This recording features tributes to many of the great composers who wrote film music for the silver screen, hence the title. A lavish and expensive tour brochure, with lots of photographs of Miss Benedetti looking by turns glamorous, alluring, pensive and so on, served as programme.Read full review... | ||
| 6-Mar-2013 The Morgan Library and Museum | A Parisian affair at the Morgan Library, New York | Kay Kempin |
 Regular concert-goers are used to hearing the harp on a church altar or mixed in with a large symphony, barely audible above the mass of strings, bass and brass. But the St Luke’s Chamber Ensemble put the harp center stage, in an evening of 20th-century French music, no less.
Read full review... | ||
| 16-Feb-2013 San Diego Civic Theatre | San Diego Opera's Samson and Delilah excels with strong cast and provoking production | Matthew Richard Martinez |
 To Camille Saint-Saëns, the operatic appeal of the biblical subject of Samson is perfectly understandable. Theoretically, the story contains the dramatic trappings of exciting grand opera: a romance, tragedy, larger-than-life setting, a ballet. But for current operatic audiences, it is easy for the subject to appear stale. With a lack of dramatic dynamism, staging this piece can be a challenge. Saint-Saëns’ sweeping score leaves a lot of freedom for dramatic interpretation and the results can be ineffective.
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| 19-Jan-2013 Walt Disney Concert Hall | Susan Graham and Renée Fleming stunning at Disney Hall | Matthew Richard Martinez |
 One would think that either Renée Fleming or Susan Graham alone would be reason enough to sell out a large venue such as Disney Hall. But everything is bigger in Hollywood, and the LA Phil brought both artists together for a one-night recital of French art song. But even that wasn’t enough. This was not an ordinary recital with neatly arranged sets of the typical repertoire finished off with a few predictable encores, concluded in two hours’ time. No, this was a thoughtful survey of French mélodies and their English-speaking muses, with slideshows, anecdotes, and stories.
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| 12-Jan-2013 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Concert Hall | The king of instruments: David Atherton, David Drury and the Hong Kong Philharmonic | Alan Yu, alanayu.wordpress.com |
 Former Hong Kong Philharmonic Music Director David Atherton returned to his hometown on Saturday to lead the orchestra in a concert entitled “The King of Instruments”, a reference to works on the programme involving the organ, an instrument rarely heard in the symphony hall.
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| 26-Oct-2012 Holywell Music Room | French song from Alice Coote and Julius Drake at the Oxford Lieder Festival | Katy Wright |
 Drawing names such as Sarah Connolly and Dame Felicity Lott to the dreaming spires, the Oxford Lieder Festival has defined itself as a leading musical exponent on an international level. It was fitting, then, that Alice Coote and Julius Drake should open the final weekend of the eleventh festival. Ranging from the romanticism of Berlioz to Poulenc’s sardonic humour, the recital encompassed an eclectic mix of French repertoire from the late 19th century into the early 20th. I was interested to see what Coote and Drake would bring to the programme.
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| 8-Oct-2012 Music Centre / Musiikkitalo: Camerata Hall | Joseph Calleja with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra in Helsinki | Bèla Bianca |
 Tenor Joseph Calleja, conductor Giuliano Carella and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra presented an interesting choice of repertoire on Monday. The composers were celebrated Italian and French masters of opera, and the programme alternated between overtures for orchestra and arias starring Calleja. Already at this point an element of balance was detectable: the alternation between orchestra-only and orchestra-and-soloist pieces suggested that they played an equally important role.
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| 6-Oct-2012 SMU: Caruth Auditorium | Filmless scores: Chamber Music International in Dallas | Evan Mitchell |
 Chamber Music International kicked off its 27th concert season on Saturday evening at Southern Methodist University. The centerpiece of the program was John Williams’ Quartet La Jolla, and the other works all used various combinations of these instruments. Violinist Cho-Liang Lin (who played on all but one of the pieces) was joined by harpist Deborah Hoffman, cellist Joshua Roman and clarinetist John Bruce Yeh.
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| 2-Oct-2012 Barbican Centre: Hall | Elina Garanča thrills in concert at the Barbican | David Karlin |
 As crowd-pulling operatic divas go, most of the attention goes to the sopranos. But a select number of mezzos have the same kind of following, and Latvia's Elina Garanča is high on that list. There are just a few roles where the mezzo is the main character of the opera (many of the others are "witches and bitches", as Garanča puts it), and the big one of those is Carmen.Read full review... | ||
| 14-Aug-2012 Royal Albert Hall | Prom 43: Delius, Saint-Saëns and Tchaikovsky with the RPO | Tom Hancox |
 If this year's Delius anniversary glut – he was born in 1862 – has taught us anything, it is how difficult his music is to capture: beautifully idiosyncratic at best, but plain boring if wrong. Not only is his structural approach unique, unbounded by schema or formal moulds, but so too is his harmonic language, and his method of evocation, no more so than in his nocturne Paris: The Song of a Great City.Read full review... | ||
| 11-Aug-2012 St Andrew's Church | Gallic charm at the Corbridge Chamber Music Festival | Emily Owen |
 Now in its 13th year, the annual Corbridge Chamber Music Festival fills St Andrew’s Church, Corbridge to its high-vaulted ceiling, with glorious music from the Gould Piano Trio (who are celebrating their 20th anniversary this year) and their varied guests.Read full review... | ||
| 12-Jul-2012 Hollywood Bowl | LA Phil with Leonard Slatkin at the Hollywood Bowl | Ted Ayala |
 It was a night that didn't augur well for those Hollywood Bowl patrons seeking the usual symphonic serenade under starlight. Los Angeles, on Thursday night, was seized by a sudden heat wave that was accompanied with stifling humidity more fitting for Manila or Saigon than the Hollywood Hills. Grey clouds looming on the horizon, which grew and dissipated as the day progressed, swelled and darkened as the sun set. Later they tore open with a downpour that caused many in the audience to flee for the exits, soaking those not lucky enough to come prepared with ponchos.
Read full review... | ||
| 9-Jun-2012 Hong Kong Cultural Centre: Concert Hall | The Hong Kong Philharmonic delights with Debussy, Saint-Saëns and Ravel | Alan Yu, alanayu.wordpress.com |
 “Cultural melting-pot” is a term so often used to describe Hong Kong that it has become a cliché. On Saturday, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra provided a living example of how the city relishes a mixture of cultural influences in a programme of works by French composers incorporating clear foreign influences, predominantly from Spain.
Read full review... | ||
| 27-May-2012 Lighthouse | Sun, Sand and the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra | Brenden Guy |
 This past weekend offered a taste of the great British summer with temperatures soaring into the high 20s. And yet, despite the lure of an afternoon spent reclining on the sunny beaches of the South Coast, large crowds flocked to the Lighthouse in Poole to watch the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra perform in their annual Benevolent Fund Concert, led by Portuguese conductor Rui Pinheiro.Read full review... | ||
| 30-Mar-2012 Vredenburg Leidsche Rijn | Renaud Capuçon Shines in Magical Saint-Saëns and Ravel | Renée Reitsma, ypgtcm.blogspot.com |
 Even though I’ve been to quite a lot of concerts these past few years, I still can’t put my finger on why some concerts attract many attendees and especially why some are so sparsely visited. This Friday’s concert had an incredibly solid program, with music by Messiaen, Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Debussy performed by one of the Netherlands’ best orchestras, yet it attracted the smallest crowd I’ve seen so far at Vredenburg. Thankfully it was also on the radio so I hope more people were able to enjoy the concert, as it was definitely worth a visit.
Read full review... | ||
| 29-Mar-2012 St David's Hall | Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse in Cardiff | Verity Quaite |
 St David’s Hall’s International Concert Series continued tonight, transporting the audience on a journey around Europe. This was the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse’s debut performance in Cardiff, and their first tour of the UK. The prestige of this orchestra in France (recently described as one of the finest symphony orchestras in the country, and frequently performing at sold out venues) does not seem to have trickled into British consciousness, but undoubtedly will do so over the course of their tour.
Read full review... | ||
| 16-Feb-2012 Alexander Hall: Richardson Auditorium | Julia Fischer in Princeton | Stephen Raskauskas |
 Kasskara.jpg) In recent decades, the infatuation with youth and beauty has affected many industries including classical music. In fact, it seems that classical musicians must begin their studies practically while they are still breast-feeding in order to ensure any kind of career at all. Bright stars burn out quickly, however, and few Wunderkinder show signs of true artistry and sophistication.
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| 7-Feb-2012 Le Poisson Rouge | Ray Chen Performs Bach, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns | Kay Kempin |
 Celebrating the worldwide release of his first orchestral album, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn: Violin Concertos, Ray Chen presented a fairly typical selection of classical music: Bach, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Saint-Saëns. But from the moment Chen took to the stage at (Le) Poisson Rouge, it was clear the evening’s concert was bound to break a few rules.
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| 4-Feb-2012 Kapelle Gstaad | Austrian good cheer and French delicacy in the Swiss Alps | David Karlin |
 Young violinists come in different shapes and styles, and this closing concert of the series of afternoon concerts by young performers in Gstaad Chapel was very different from yesterday’s. Where Albrecht Menzel was all about flamboyant virtuosity, this performance by 22-year old German Lukas Stepp was a far more thoughtful affair.
Read full review... | ||
| 30-Jul-2011 Highclere Castle | Bangs for your Buck - The Battle Proms at Highclere Castle. | Andrew Benson-Wilson |
 I have to confess that an event like this is not within my normal musical radar. My music reviewing and listening is predominantly serious classical, and most of it is for a specialist part of that wide repertoire. So it was a slightly brave, or foolhardy, idea to offer to review one of these musical spectaculars at my local castle. The Battle Proms have been going since 1997 and run at six well-known country house venues during July and August.Read full review... | ||
| 22-Jul-2011 Concertgebouw: Main Hall | La Douce France in Amsterdam | Renée Reitsma, ypgtcm.blogspot.com |
 The theme of tonight was La Douce France, with a line-up of French and Belgian musicians and composers. Starting off with the subtle tones of Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, a symphonic poem inspired by Mallarmé’s poem “L’Après-midi d’un Faune”. Even if you would not be aware of the title, the image of a faun would rise up from the music, the flute and harp especially created exciting faun-like music. The entire piece is full of ripples of excitement and almost off-beat harmonics.Read full review... | ||
| 12-Jul-2011 St Paul's Cathedral | Messiaen, Poulenc and Saint-Saëns - Dame Gillian Weir in St Paul's | Andrew Benson-Wilson |
 This was the showpiece concert of this year’s City of London Festival and took place in the spectacular surroundings of St Paul’s Cathedral. Three key French composers were featured, concluding with well-known 3rd Symphony of Saint-Saëns. The first performance of this work was conducted by Saint-Saëns in London in 1886 in the long-since demolished St James’s Hall. It is popularly known as the Organ Symphony or Symphony for Orchestra and Organ, but both titles are misleading.Read full review... | ||
| 1-Dec-2010 Cadogan Hall | A concert with a cause | Helen Fraser |
| A show of “all our favourite people”. Violinist Matthew Trusler's description of the charity concert organised by himself and his wife Maya Koch refers to his and Koch’s favourite people; however he could very well have meant his audience’s or even the concert-going public. The couple have some very well-known friends indeed: the evident warmth between them created the intimate, spontaneous atmosphere of a private drawing-room where world-class musicians happened to be making music together.
Read full review... | ||
