Christian Blackshaw, Wigmore Hall online review - pure as the driven snow

★★★★ CHRISTIAN BLACKSHAW, WIGMORE HALL Mozart and Schubert on their own terms

The British pianist takes Mozart and Schubert on their own terms

From a distance, the pianist Christian Blackshaw bears an uncanny resemblance to Franz Liszt, silver hair swept back à la 19th century. At the piano, though, you could scarcely find two more different musicians. There seems not to be a flamboyant bone in Blackshaw’s body.

Doric Quartet, Wigmore Hall review – sombre reflections

Late quartets of Mozart and Britten delivered with gentle but sustained intensity

With the wealth of online performances during the pandemic, it is easy to forget the regular offerings from the Wigmore Hall. The Hall found itself in a better position than most, as it was able to present its autumn schedule largely unchanged, the only programming issues arising from international travel limitations for the performers. And the finances somehow permitted them to give concerts even without audiences when restrictions dictated, but broadcast everything live on webstreams.

Classical CDs Weekly: Brahms, Anna Höstman, Mozart, Mark Simpson

CLASSICAL CDS WEEKLY Two Brahms symphonies, Mozart's 'Gran Partita' serenade and Anna Höstman's piano music

A pair of romantic symphonies, the greatest of wind serenades, and new piano music from Canada

 

Brahms TognettiBrahms: Symphonies 3 & 4 Australian Chamber Orchestra/Richard Tognetti (ABC Classic)

The Magic Flute, Glyndebourne review - deeply moving light in darkness

★★★★ THE MAGIC FLUTE, GLYNDEBOURNE Deeply moving light in darkness

Ninety minute concert staging showcases superb young singers

How does Mozart do it? His music can provoke deep emotions even in the unlikeliest operatic situations, if well done, and present circumstances stirred them up all the more on Sunday afternoon. Those flirtatious ladies flouncing around the prone prince in the first musical number of The Magic Flute – no overture here – only had to sing “although it breaks my heart in two/I have to bid farewell to you/until we meet again" for another tearful turn of the screw.

Northern Chords Festival, Church of St James and St Basil, Newcastle review - high, lucid and bright

★★★★★ NORTHERN CHORDS FESTIVAL, NEWCASTLE A brilliant day of shining performances

From bouncy Haydn mass to Mendelssohn in chorale mode, a day of great performances

Whatever happens next – and even in Tier 3 the Royal Liverpool Phlharmonic goes on playing to carefully distanced audiences – this will be remembered by all participants as a day of dazzling brilliance, its bright autumn light matched by so much of the music in a morning service and four concerts ending nine hours later.

Doric Quartet, Bandstand Chamber Festival, Battersea Park review – radiance on a late summer evening

★★★★★ DORIC QUARTET, BANDSTAND CHAMBER FESTIVAL Radiance on a summer evening

Back before an audience at last, top players engage at the highest level

Wonderful as the livestreamed Proms are for players working together again and for viewers/listeners who wouldn’t be able to get to the Royal Albert Hall even if they could be admitted, I’d sacrifice them all for one evening of live musical communication like this.

theartsdesk Q&A: horn player Sarah Willis

SARAH WILLIS Q&A Midnight recording sessions & late-running buses: Mozart in Havana

Midnight recording sessions and late-running buses; playing Mozart in Havana

Horn player Sarah Willis joined the Berlin Philharmonic in 2001. She juggles her position with spells of teaching, interviewing soloists and conductors for the Berlin Philharmonic's Digital Concert Hall and hosting an online series of Horn Hangouts, interviews with musicians streamed live on her website and archived on YouTube.