Posts

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CONCERT REVIEW | Mozart & Bruckner | BBC Symphony Orchestra/Grosvenor & Oramo | Royal Albert Hall, London | "the conviction forged by Oramo was both hair-raising and refreshing"

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INTERVIEW | Shiyeon Sung | "music really is about getting in touch with one’s emotions directly"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Webern, Mahler, & Wagner | Philharmonia Orchestra/Kampe, Smith, Selig, & Elder | Royal Albert Hall, London | "An overarching success, then, highlighting the excitement of the Salonen-Philharmonia magic"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Wagner, Debussy, & Stravinsky | Hallé Orchestra/Bevan, Stéphany, & Elder | Royal Albert Hall, London | "Elder demonstrated sensitivity and imagination, patiently building up the adventurous colours of the score"

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INTERVIEW | Sunwook Kim | "the essential beauty behind classical music comes from the fact that people gather at a concert hall to listen to music that can exist only in the moment of its performance. My existence is defined by such short moments"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Shostakovich | London Symphony Orchestra/Benedetti & Noseda | Barbican, London | "all any Shostakovich enthusiast could have wished for, full of zest and a smirk"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Rossini, Grieg, & Tchaikovsky | Philharmonia Orchestra/Kim & Sung | Royal Festival Hall, London | "what drew Kim as original yet was his balance between boldness and silence, as the echoes of the slightest of notes aired poignancy as much as imagination"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Dukas, Rachmaninov & Berlioz | Philharmonia Orchestra/Kozhukhin & Järvi | Royal Festival Hall, London | "the tuttis had colour and swing, and the climax copious yet far from overwhelming"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Widmann, Lutosławski, & Brahms | Berliner Philharmoniker & Rattle | Royal Festival Hall, London | "One had to simply admire this klang while it was still there, for the silence that followed the last note signaled the end of an era"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Abrahamsen & Bruckner | Berliner Philharmoniker & Rattle | Royal Festival Hall, London | "the Berliner strings never betrayed an underlying sinew – somehow reminding one of the Karajan-sound, as it were"