Composer Lyle Chan explains how he won the blessing of the 96-year-old whose first crush was Benjamin Britten. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Beresford gives Britten’s comic opera cinematic elegance and slick sophistication.
The director of Driving Miss Daisy and Double Jeopardy describes stumbling into opera direction at a cocktail party. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Neat programming sees old and new meet borrowed and bluesy.
Britten and Handel do the trick as the 25-year-old countertenor from NSW carries off The Mathy for 2016. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
Music has always been great propaganda, but over the centuries Britain’s royalty have turned it into an art form. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
This programme has been cleverly crafted around the world premiere recording of Sir James MacMillan’s Oboe Concerto performed by its dedicatee Nicholas Daniel with the composer at the helm. It is a bold virtuosic work that should prove popular with both players and audiences. The breezy first movement, a bustling affair with the soloist goaded on to challenging passage-work by startling effects in the orchestra, contrasts starkly with the following Largo based on material from a earlier composition In Angustiis (a post-9/11 lament for solo oboe). It juxtaposes periods of keening sorrow with outbursts of rage, while stretching the expressive possibilities of the instrument just about as far as it can go. The Finale is forthright and playful, opening with a demented parody of serialist pretensions before veering off in unexpected poly-stylistic directions – although some of its jokes are a little too wacky for its own good. The disc opens with Vaughan William’s pastoral idyll with the soloist directing a performance that should serve as a top recommendation for this under-recorded gem. The Britten Sinfonia’s limpid strings conjure moments… Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
★★★★½ A welcome return, with a new addition, for a mighty marriage of movement and music. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The British tenor is the quintessential lieder singer. He shares his cerebral approach to song with Maxim Boon.
Get in the mood for amore with this list of 10 of the most romantic couples in classical music.
Donald Runnicles and Frank Peter Zimmermann offer a touch of class in Sibelius and Elgar. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
The young Sydney-born mezzo talks to us about her gifts, goals, going abroad. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in
An opera and a production that punch well above their weight.
