CD and Book Reviews 21 October 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Tchaikovsky: 6th symphony, Romeo & Juliet overture (Decca) For a troubled London teenager in the 1960s there were three available sources of relief. One was illegal, one was immoral and the third was…
Baroque and Early 14 October 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – J S Bach: The French Suites (DG) What a difference a label can make. All his adult life, ever since he won the 1972 Leeds Piano Competition, Murray Perahia has recorded exclusively…
Art Song 7 October 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Arnold Schoenberg: Gurre-Lieder (Chandos) It is so rare to hear the Gurre Lieder live that most of us are acquainted with it only on record – in memorable interpretations…
Lebrecht Weekly 30 September 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Pretty Yende: A Journey (Sony Classical) The classical music industry does not so much promote talent as postpone it. Faced with a gleaming young star, the male curators of fame (all…
Contemporary 23 September 20161.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Lang Lang: New York Rhapsody (Sony Classical) I am not the right person to be reviewing this album, but then I’m not sure the right person actually exists. This is a Sony…
Contemporary 16 September 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Prokofiev: Violin concertos (BIS) Two albums of Prokofiev concertos arrive in the same delivery, one piano, the other violin. Both are from pedigree artists, pedigree labels. Which one do…
Contemporary 9 September 20162.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Michael Nyman: The Man who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Naxos) In the spring of 1985 I saw three opera world premieres in London in as many weeks. There was Busoni’s Doctor Faust in the restored…
Contemporary 2 September 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Ustvolskaya, Silvestrov & Kancheli: Works for Piano & Orchestra The late Soviet system created damaging monopolies in the arts as much as they did in state industry. The big brands – Shostakovich, Khachaturian –…
Contemporary 19 August 20164.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Martinu: Ariane (Supraphon) I am beginning to wonder if posterity will ever place Bohuslav Martinů where he justly belongs, as the last in a quartet of Czech geniuses,…
Art Song 12 August 20165.0 0 Lebrecht Weekly – Schubert Lieder: Der Wanderer (Delphian) It’s always a good sign when a pianist is named as the editorial force behind a lieder recital, giving the enterprise both objective distance and…