Mark Padmore, Mitsuko Uchida/ Benjamin Baker, Timothy Ridout, Wigmore Hall online/BBC Radio 3 review – hail and farewell

MARK PADMORE, MITSUKO UCHIDA / BENJAMIN BAKER, TIMOTHY RIDOUT, WIGMORE HALL, RADIO 3 A landmark series closes with majesty, and mischief

A landmark series closes with majesty, and mischief

Of course, we just had to end with a midsummer Winterreise. The Wigmore Hall’s month of lockdown concerts for BBC Radio 3 had begun with a legendary elegy – the Chaconne from Bach’s D minor Partita, written according to musical folklore in memory of his first wife, with which Stephen Hough so gravely, beautifully, broke the pandemic silence on 1 June.

Highgate International Chamber Music Festival opening concert review - top soloists blend to perfection

★★★★★ SHEKU KANNEH-MASON AND FRIENDS IN HIGHGATE Top soloists blend to perfection

Sheku Kanneh-Mason is only the best-known name in a quintet of leading string players

When celebrated individuals get together to play chamber music on special occasions, the result can often turn out as what the late cellist of the Borodin Quartet, Valentin Berlinsky, disparagingly called "festival quality" – meaning a clash, rather than a blend, of personalities. That was never the case for a moment in the opening concert of the eighth Highgate International Chamber Music Festival.

Leonskaja, Ferschtman, Várdai, Wigmore Hall review - direct line to Schubert's genius

★★★★★ LEONSKAJA, FERCHTMAN, VARDAI, WIGMORE HALL Direct line to Schubert's genius

Three peerless players clarify the wonders of the composer's two late piano trios

From the epic-lyric heaven storming of Beethoven's last three piano sonatas to the lyric-epic dances on the volcano of Schubert's two late piano trios isn't so big a leap, especially when you have the clairvoyant poise between colossal and intimate of the great Elisabeth Leonskaja.

Classical CDs Weekly: Isabelle Aboulker, Swan Hennessy, Schubert

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY Contemporary French song, Celtic-tinged string quartets and Schubert on fortepiano

Contemporary French song, Celtic-tinged string quartets and Schubert on fortepiano

 

Isabelle AboulkerIsabelle Aboulker: Mélodies/Songs en français and in English Julia Kogan (soprano), Isabelle Aboulker (piano) (First Hand Records)

Winterreise, Gerhaher, Huber, Wigmore Hall review - wintry beauty

★★★★ WINTERREISE, GERHAHER, HUBER, WIGMORE HALL REVIEW Wintry beauty

A peerless double-act take their latest Schubertian journey

As Wigmore Hall audiences really ought to know, silence can be golden. Especially at the close of Schubert’s Winterreise, as the uncanny drone-like fifths of the hurdy-gurdy in “Der Leiermann” fade away into – well, whatever state of mind the singer and pianist have together managed to communicate over the preceding 24 songs. So much remains ambiguous – and open to plausible re-interpretation – in this cycle that the traditional pause for reflection as it ends makes good sense.