Currie, Jordan, NCO, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - major marimba music

Tales of mystery and imagination from the 21st century and beyond

Finding one piece for marimba soloist and string orchestra would tax the powers of many concert planners, never mind coming up with two, so the Northern Chamber Orchestra is to be congratulated on its first Manchester performance of 2020 – especially since they found two concerto-style works from almost the same point in recent time: 2009 and 2010.

Liam Gallagher: As It Was, BBC Two review - no expletives deleted in exhausting rock-doc

★★ LIAM GALLAGHER: AS IT WAS No expletives deleted in exhausting rock-doc

Is Liam the last great rock'n'roll singer or just tedious in the extreme?

Liam Gallagher knows exactly how "fucking fantastic… and fucking shit I am", and proceeds to tell us so for 85 minutes. This 10-year documentary project came about as a result of director Charlie Lightening’s friendship with Gallagher, formed as Oasis came to a predictable halt.

WH Lung, Rich Mix review - ever-intensifying motorik-bedded onslaught

Self-assured and on-the-rise Mancunians firmly make their case

A 55-minute set without an encore. Songs bleeding into each other. No announcements, no talking from the stage. A constantly moving frontman seemingly channelling a yen to merge Merce Cunningham moves and tai-chi. A band who, barring the odd grin from one of the guitarists, focus on what they are doing without expression. An absence of “please-like-me” posturing.

Eyck, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - theremin takes centre stage

★★★★ EYCK, BBC PHILHARMONIC, STORGARDS, BRIDGEWATER HALL Theremin takes centre stage

A rare visitor for the UK premiere of Kalevi Aho's 'Eight Seasons'

The theremin is still a relatively rare visitor to concert halls, particularly in a solo role, but Carolina Eyck is changing that. Her instrument, invented by Lev Termen just 100 years ago, is a relatively simple piece of kit – a tone generator controlled by the player’s hands, which never touch it but rather appear to be conjuring sound out of thin air.

Wallfisch, Northern Chamber Orchestra, Stoller Hall, Manchester review - Weinberg UK premiere

★★★★ WALLFISCH, NCO, STOLLER HALL, MANCHESTER Weinberg UK premiere

Subtlety and haunting qualities in a little gem for solo cello and string orchestra

Everyone’s doing Weinberg now, or so it seems. The Polish-born composer who became a close friend of Shostakovich was born 100 years ago, and there’s plenty of his music to go round.

First Person: Simon Stephens - the contemplation of kindness

SIMON STEPHENS ON LIGHT FALLS The playwright introduces his new play for the Royal Exchange

A journey to the North, into the playwright's past, provides the genesis for ‘Light Falls’, opening at the Royal Exchange

Light Falls is the sixth play that I have written for the Royal Exchange theatre in Manchester and the fourth that its outgoing Artistic Director, Sarah Frankcom, will direct.

Kozhukhin, BBC Philharmonic, Carneiro, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - melancholy heart of Mahler

Gracefulness and appealing energy in different emotional worlds

Mahler’s Fifth Symphony is a repertoire piece nowadays, probably as familiar to as many listeners as to orchestral players, which means you look for something distinctive in any performance to identify its essential quality against all the others.

Ehnes, Hallé, Gabel, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - happy unexpected discoveries

★★★★ EHNES, HALLÉ, GABEL, BRIDGEWATER HALL, MANCHESTER Happy unexpected discoveries

Two young conductors and a master of the violin

Changes from the artists originally advertised can bring some happy discoveries. Sir Mark Elder, though present in the audience to hear last night’s Hallé performance at the Bridgewater Hall, was still recovering from surgery and so did not conduct it, as he’d planned to when the season was announced. Instead, the Hallé Youth Orchestra’s music director (and noted choral director) Ellie Slorach took the baton for the first work in the programme – Weinberg’s Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes.