Posts

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RECORDING REVIEW | Brahms | Georgian & Gililov / Weber & Lundberg | "...the velvet depth of Weber’s Stradivari-Cello “Suggia” forms a formidable unity with Lundberg’s clear-eyed poeticism"

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RECORDING REVIEW | Wagner | Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin/Volle & Fritzsch | "The sinew that resides in the lower registers of Volle’s klang gains a golden nobility in notes of higher planes"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Bruckner | London Philharmonic Orchestra/Renes | RFH, London | "Notable Brucknerian interpretations in the past have hence shown how less can be more, just as the Dutch conductor Lawrence Renes demonstrated"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Beethoven, Brahms, & Tchaikovsky | Philharmonia Orchestra/Yoo & Steffens | RFH, London | "There is a fine line between a performance being overtly self-conscious and having a distinct personal mark. The performance of tonight gravitated toward the latter"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Tchaikovsky & Rachmaninov | St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra/Dmitriev & Donohoe | Cadogan Hall, London | "Dmitriev demonstrated that discipline and intensity of playing alone, without attempts for interpretation, was sufficient to generate a great performance"

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RECORDING REVIEW | Kokkonen | Väyrynen, Väyrynen, & Lehtola | "I am won over by Kokkonen’s towering originality and impact, especially in the powerful performance of the Requiem"

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RECORDING REVIEW | Enescu | BBC Philharmonic/Rozhdestvensky | "Under the baton of Rozhdestvensky, the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra have a distinctively soviet contour, with astringent strings and vivid orchestral attacks"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Mozart & Bruckner | London Philharmonic Orchestra/Goode & Jurowski | RFH, London | "I was far from moved with Jurowski’s awkward handling of chorale- and Ländler-based ideas, the dichotomy of the sacred and profane so integral in Bruckner’s musical personality"

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RECORDING REVIEW | Shostakovich & Martinů | Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin/Poltéra & Varga | "...the stellar performance of the Martinů concerto alone makes this disc commendable"

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CONCERT REVIEW | Rihm & Bruckner | Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra/Gatti | RAH, London | "Gatti’s care for every note, for all its good intentions, felt strained at times and overdone"