Nick Stathopoulos makes a political statement with his portrait of the ABC presenter.

The bitchiest one-liners ever dealt out by some seriously harsh composers and critics. Ouch!

Composed and premiered in a concentration camp in the winter of 1941, Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time is one of the most terrifying and profound musical expressions of the Catholic faith to emerge out of the horrors of 20th-century warfare. And yet it also contains some of the most sensual music ever written. It is a rare group that can move between those extremes and master the score’s extreme virtuosity, but Ensemble Liaison passes with flying colours. The trio plus Wilma Smith on violin are impressive individually, particularly clarinetist David Griffiths in his Herculean solo with its feats of breath control. But they play as one when it counts the most: the extended unison movement Dance de la Fureur, a fierce evocation of the seven trumpets of the apocalypse. This section is impressively faster than my go-to recording on DG with Daniel Barenboim, maintaining almost telepathic focus between the four players, but what they gain in speed they lose in gravitas. Messiaen’s ethereal musical realm – beyond time as we know it – is not too daunting for these artists, who seem comfortable drawing out its rhythmic complexity and elasticity, playing with sinuous… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

In Victorian Opera’s production, John Bell finds out who’s after your soul these days. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

The 36 competitors have been chosen following a gruelling round of international auditions. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Raelene Sharp's portrait of actor John Wood the favourite of Art Gallery NSW staff.

Live review: Instructions for an Imaginary Man Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Last year, on tour with the ACO’s surfing-themed program The Glide, Joseph Tawadros vowed he wouldn’t be caught dead on a board. Richard Tognetti may not have taught him to duck dive, but it’s clear the mystery of the sea exerts its thrall over Australia’s young oud virtuoso. On this his fifth album, Tawadros draws on Khalil Gibran’s description of the human spirit as “a boundless drop to a boundless ocean” for his Concerto of the Greater Sea. The six movements of the suite for oud, viola, piano and percussion are interspersed with shorter pieces recorded with the ACO’s full complement of strings back in 2006. These are as fresh as if they had been made yesterday, fitting comfortably with the concerto and documenting the ease of stylistic integration that has remained constant through years of collaboration. Tawadros’s compositions develop from simple chord progressions that give him space to showcase his impressive finger work and explore the tangy sonorities of his instrument in soulful musings, often doubled in taut unison by Tognetti or violist Christopher Moore. The effect is breathtaking, the timbres exquisitely blended, but where it gets interesting is when the soloists are more independent, as in the lyrical……

Only in recent years has Charles Ives been acknowledged as a founding father of American classical music, but there can be no mistaking the true grit in his four violin sonatas, all composed before 1920. Youthful brio, blistering technique and a fierce musical intellect make Hilary Hahn the ideal interpreter of her countryman’s work. She and Ukrainian pianist Valentina Lisitsa have been exploring the sonatas together for a few years and the synergy they have achieved is remarkable, considering the  two parts are often composed to sound entirely disjointed from one another. It’s clear from the duo’s mercurial rhythmic interplay just how much fun they’re having with this music. Hahn’s sweet-toned violin is closely-miked for a dry, honest sound that matches the directness of Ives’s borrowings from hymns, ragtime and spirituals. North Carolina-based Lisitsa calls these tuneful quotations “American as apple pie”, and that’s the spirit in which she attacks buoyant, punchy passages. But the players are just as expressive in gentle moments of reflection, easing into Debussyesque lyricism for the Autumn movement of Sonata No 2. Highlights: the wide-eyed adventure of the Sonata No 4 Children’s Day at the Camp Meeting, its final movement… Continue reading Get unlimited digital…

Critical Mass: Bernstein’s masterpiece goes beyond politics and religion to humanity, pure and simple. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in

Live review of Senyawa and Chiri at Adelaide Festival.

A violin crafted out of wreckage from the Japan tsunami marks one year since the disaster. Continue reading Get unlimited digital access from $4 per month Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log in