Classical CDs Weekly: Coates, Dvořák, Martinů, Peñalosa

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY British light music, two Czech piano concertos and sacred sounds from 16th century Spain

British light music, two Czech piano concertos and sacred sounds from 16th century Spain

 

Coates WilsonEric Coates: Orchestral Works, Vol. 1 BBC Philharmonic/John Wilson (Chandos)

London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Ono, Barbican review - feet on the ground, eyes to the skies

★★★★★ LSO AND CHORUS, ONO, BARBICAN Voices and trumpets blaze in Janáček

Solo vocal, choral and orchestral trumpets blaze in Janáček's Glagolitic Mass

We have John Eliot Gardiner to thank for an unconventional diptych of Czech masterpieces in the London Symphony Orchestra's current season. He had to withdraw from last night's concert - he conducts Dvořák's Cello Concerto and Suk's "Asrael" Symphony on Thursday - but his replacement, Kazushi Ono, was no second-best.

Prom 2, Bell, Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, Hrůša review – Bohemian rhapsody, and refinement

★★★★ PROM 2, BELL, BAMBERG SO, HRUSA Bohemian rhapsody, and refinement

Sumptuously sophisticated playing from a Czech-German partnership

Eighty years ago this summer, Neville Chamberlain’s indifference to the peoples of Czechoslovakia – “a quarrel in a far away country between people of whom we know nothing” – reaped its harvest of total war. These days, we have no excuses for not knowing a lot more. And the opening concerts of this year’s BBC Proms have shown why we should.

Prom 1, BBCSO, Canellakis review - space-age First Night

★★★ PROM 1, BBCSO, CANELLAKIS Choral spectacular opens season in style

Programme lacks logic, but choral spectacular opens the season in style

A new commission, a Romantic tone poem and a choral spectacular – standard fare for the First Night of the Proms. Traditionally, the First Night sets out the themes for the season ahead, but the rationale behind much of this programme was paper-thin. Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass was included because Henry Wood had conducted it, part of a series featuring pieces Wood introduced to the UK.

Rusalka, Glyndebourne Festival review - away with the distressed fairies

★★★★ RUSALKA, GLYNDEBOURNE Dvořák's late masterpiece richly revealed without the airy-fairy

Dvořák's late masterpiece richly revealed without the airy-fairy

When you think of the extravagant, violent, super grown-up subject-matter that stalked the operatic stage round about 1900 - the Toscas and the Salomes, the Cavs, the Pags and the rest of the verismo pack - you might find it strange to contemplate the ageing Dvořák still messing around with fairies at the bottom of his woodland pool, a subject that surely went out with the early Romantics. 

Goodyear, Chineke! Orchestra, Marshall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham Review - engaging and uplifting

Joy and sparkle from this youthful band

Having played their first concert just four years ago, the Chineke! Orchestra gave a rousing, exuberant performance for an ensemble still in its infancy. It’s a young orchestra, not just in the sense of only being founded a few years ago, but one that comprises many young players too. Though its youthful passion and energy was very much to the fore, there were some points in Edvard Grieg’s Peer Gynt Suite No 1 when a lack of experience let them down.

10 Questions for Cellist Raphael Wallfisch

On composers in exile, the forgotten beauty of English cello concertos, and why you shouldn’t mess with Beethoven

Cellist Raphael Wallfisch thinks outside of the box. His concert repertoire spans the popular concerto choices – the Elgar, the Dvořák – but he doesn’t stop there, and makes a point of seeking out the lesser-known and the little-heard.

Faust, Matthews, LSO, Haitink, Barbican review - glimpses of heaven

RIP BERNARD HAITINK (1929-2021) The last LSO concert: glimpses of heaven in Dvořák and Mahler

Nature relished in Dvořák and carefully observed in Mahler

Vibrant rustic dancing to conclude the first half, a heavenly barcarolle to cast a spell of silence at the end of the second: Bernard Haitink's 90th birthday celebrations of middle-European mastery wrought yet more magic in Dvořák and Mahler after his first concert of Mozart and Bruckner.

Oelze, Oakes, Gould, BBC Philharmonic, Gnann, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - trio of surprises

★★★★ OELZE, OAKES, GOULD, BBC PHILHARMONIC, GNANN Trio of surprises

New conductor, new soloists, new programme – and a fascinating New World Symphony

Best laid plans and all that … this concert was originally to have been conducted by the late Oliver Knussen, and of course things had to change after his death. In the end the more recently advertised Ryan Wigglesworth was unable to conduct either, and Moritz Gnann stepped in: he first appeared with the BBC Philharmonic in 2017 and last visited in November.