Coote, Blackshaw, Fiennes, Wigmore Hall online review – lonely hearts club band

★★★★ COOTE, BLACKSHAW, FIENNES, WIGMORE HALL Lonely hearts club band

Tchaikovsky songs and Russian poems harmonise in a melancholy magic

Why, in Lieder singing above all, should an outpouring of deep feeling so frighten critics? Alice Coote’s unabashed emotionalism as a recitalist can sometimes bring out the worst in the stiff-upper-lip brigade, as reactions to her high-impact Winterreise (last given at the Wigmore prior to the current lockdown) revealed. At least with Tchaikovsky’s song output, no one can plausibly claim that they really ought to be delivered with strait-laced placidity.

The Nutcracker: an end-of-year obituary

THE NUTCRACKER: AN END OF YEAR OBITUARY How ballet companies coped with a rough ride

It's been a rough ride for the seasonal cash cow. Here's how ballet companies coped

If dance lovers have learnt anything in recent months it's to take nothing for granted. How could we ever have been so blasé about The Nutcracker, whose annual reappearance in multiple productions was as inevitable as crowds on Oxford Street? As a long-departed dance critic once Eeyorishly observed, each year “brings us one Nutcracker closer to death”, a quip that now has a bleaker resonance than even he can have intended.

Classical CDs Weekly: Kirill Petrenko, Avi Avital, Ravel

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY The Berlin Philharmonic, a mandolin masterclass and Ravel's Mélodies

Orchestral music both rare and familiar from Berlin, plus mandolins and French song

 

Kirill Petrenko box setBerliner Philharmoniker/Kirill Petrenko: Music by Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Franz Schmidt, Rudi Stephan (Berliner Philharmoniker Recordings)

City of London Sinfonia, Southwark Cathedral / Kanneh-Masons, Barbican review - soaring teamwork

★★★★ CITY OF LONDON SINFONIA / KANNEH-MASONS Soaring teamwork at Southwark Cathedral and Barbican

The pure joy of music-making in both events, but with rigour and discipline

“Live music is back,” runs the Barbican's latest slogan, so treasure it and get out there while you can. Thursday evening in London offered an embarrassment of riches. I chose the City of London Sinfonia live in Southwark Cathedral over the Kanneh-Masons on the other side of the Thames in the Barbican only because I knew I could catch up with the family live on screen later.

The Encore, Opera Holland Park review - stylish return for a squad of old friends

★★★★★ THE ENCORE, OPERA HOLLAND PARK Stylish return for a squad of old friends

A moving and delightful al fresco feast of opera favourites

As Dvořák’s "Song to the Moon" from Rusalka rose to its impassioned climax, Natalya Romaniw had to battle a helicopter thumping overhead. The helicopter lost (well, of course it did). As Nardus Williams and David Butt Phillip disappeared into the wings after a heart-rending "O soave fanciulla" from La Bohème, a squirrel scampered centre-stage to fill the dramatic vacuum.

Classical CDs Weekly: Holst, Nielsen, Piatti, Tchaikovsky

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY An accordion duo, operatic arias on solo cello and a fiery Russian symphony

An accordion duo, operatic arias on solo cello and a fiery Russian symphony

 

Holst MythosHolst: The Planets; Nielsen: Helios Overture Mythos (Bjarke Mogensen and Rasmus Schjaerff Kjøller, accordions) (Mythos)

Eugene Onegin, Komische Oper, OperaVision review - sensual and devastating

★★★★ EUGENE ONEGIN, KOMISCHE OPER, OPERAVISION Kosky serves up first love hot and sweet and heartbreaking

Kosky serves up first love hot and sweet and heartbreaking

Liberated from Pushkin’s salons, ballrooms and bedrooms, Barrie Kosky’s Eugene Onegin bursts out into nature. Tatyana and Olga lounge in the long grass stealing heavy fingerfuls of jam straight from the jar; party-guests run through the trees with flaming torches, dancing wildly, barefoot; after the harvest groups gather on the lawn with picnics and games. This is a world apart, the hot, hazy, endless summer of first love – an intense, but unreliable memory.

Classical CDs Weekly: Christmas CDs 1

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY: CHRISTMAS PART ONE Six discs you'd happily spin all year round

Part one of this year's seasonal smörgåsbord: six discs you'd happily spin all year round

 

Bach christmas oratorio 2Bach: Christmas Oratorio Thomanerchor Leipzig, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig/Gotthold Schwarz (Accentus)

Classical CDs Weekly: Josquin, Tchaikovsky, Janet Sung

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY Colourful violins, 16th century mass settings, Russian romanticism

Colourful violin repertoire, 16th century mass settings and heady Russian romanticism

 

Josquin: Missa Mater Patris, Bauldeweyn: Missa Da pacem The Tallis Scholars/Peter Philips (Gimmell)