Review: Alwyn: Miss Julie (BBC Symphony Orchestra)
Alwyn’s powerful reworking of Strindberg is superbly championed.
Michael Quinn is a former theatre director and BBC Radio Drama producer who writes about classical music, opera and theatre. A former Deputy Editor of Gramophone, he is obituaries editor for The Stage, booklet editor for SOMM Recordings, and programming consultant to Northern Ireland’s newest arts centre, The Portico of Ards.
Alwyn’s powerful reworking of Strindberg is superbly championed.
A forgotten Irish composer is superbly championed by Niall Kinsella.
Persuasive advocacy for a neglected Brazilian master’s songs and piano pieces.
Jordan’s Vienna swansong serves up watercolour treatments of Brahms’ symphonies.
Korngold’s youthful minor masterpiece gets a welcome second outing on disc.
Trevino reveals himself as a lean, lithe, fresh-sounding Beethovenian.
D’Oustrac and Gaillard make all kinds of madness seem vicariously pleasurable.
Lang’s take on Beethoven benefits from strong singing and playing.
Bavouzet puts Beethoven’s peers under the microscope to revealing effect.
Sokolov’s live Beethoven and Brahms is something of a curate’s egg.
Quietly dazzling performances light up Feldman’s introspective minor masterpiece.
Alard’s Bach survey gets into its stride with Weimar period wonders.
Brilliant, blazing Beethoven from Hough and Lintu’s finessed Finns.