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Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - Bruckner’s Ninth completed
Kahchun Wong takes Manchester audience on an epic journey Kahchun Wong’s third Bridgewater Hall concert with the Hallé in his inaugural season as principal conductor consisted of just one work:...
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Ohlsson, BBC Philharmonic, Storgårds, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review -...
A time-travelling journey through the Austro-German Romantic tradition The BBC Philharmonic were right to bill Garrick Ohlsson, soloist in Brahms’Piano Concerto No. 1, as the main attraction in...
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Kolesnikov, Hallé, Elts, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - the dude who...
Fun French music forms a foil to naked, virtuoso pianismPavel Kolesnikov returned to the Hallé last night with a bobby-dazzler of a concerto. He’s a laid-back dude in appearance, with no tie, flapping...
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Gerhardt, BBC Philharmonic, Chauhan, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review -...
★★★★ GERHARDT, BBC PHILHARMONIC, CHAUHAN, BRIDGEWATER HALL From grief to peaceAnna Clyne, Shostakovich and Richard Strauss tell us about loss, struggle and healingAnna Clyne’s This Moment had its UK...
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Classical CDs: Vitamins, kings and magic spells
A neglected ballet score, romantic piano concertos and contemporary British music Brahms: Piano Concertos 1 and 2, Solo piano worksIgor Levit (piano), Wiener Philharmoniker/Christian Thielemann (Sony)
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Currie, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - sparkle and intrigue
Energy and excitement in MacMillan… and then a surpriseKahchun Wong’s final concert of 2024 in the Hallé Manchester season was something of a surprise. At first sight, the sparkle in the programme...
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L’étoile, RNCM, Manchester review - lavish and cheerful absurdity
Teamwork to the fore in a multi-credit operatic comedyEmmanuel Chabrier’s L’étoile is not exactly a French farce, but it comes from a post-Offenbach era (1877 saw its premiere) when cheerful absurdity...
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Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Wigglesworth, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review...
Assurance and sympathy from Mark Wigglesworth for differing French idioms Top Brownie points for the BBC Philharmonic for being one of the first (maybe the first?) to celebrate the birth centenary of...
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Gigashvili, Hallé, Cox, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - beauty and...
Music and ‘noise’ come together as new music meets Mozart and Tchaikovsky There was excellent music making in the Hallé concert in Manchester last night, and there was self-admitted “noise”. Briefly,...
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Manchester Collective, RNCM review - something special in new music
★★★★ MANCHESTER COLLECTIVE, RNCM Something special in new musicPerformers of extraordinary versatility fulfil their briefWhen a piece of music is heard for the first time ever, there’s always the...
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Chamayou, BBC Philharmonic, Morlot, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review -...
★★★★ CHAMAYOU, BBC PHILHARMONIC, MORLOT Blasts of Boulez, magical RavelCelebration of the two French masters continues in big bangs and gentlenessThe second of the Philharmonic’s Boulez-Ravel...
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Album: Doves - Constellations for the Lonely
Prog-rock existential wranglings from the grizzled MancuniansDoves really are quite prog rock aren’t they? It’s never really leapt out at me before, probably because I’d always thought of them as...
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Gromes, Hallé, Chauhan, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - new concerto...
Spirit of Germany in the 1930s captured in Herz’s tense and despondent workA cello concerto received its UK premiere in Manchester last night – almost 100 years after it was written. It’s by Maria...
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BBC Philharmonic, Bihlmaier, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - an...
★★★★ BBC PHILHARMONIC, BIHLMAIER, MANCHESTER An International Women's Day specialSpotlight on today’s composers and one of their sisters from the pastAnja Bihlmaier returned to the BBC Philharmonic –...
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Manchester Collective, RNCM review - exploring new territory
The string quartet – plus percussion and electronics – goes on a journeyManchester Collective, now very much a part of the establishment world of new music, are still enlarging their territory. For...
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Connolly, BBC Philharmonic, Paterson, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - a...
Magic in lesser-known works of Duruflé and ChaussonThe BBC Philharmonic took its Saturday night audience on a journey into French sonic luxuriance – in reverse order of historical formation, beginning...
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Owen Wingrave, RNCM, Manchester review - battle of a pacifist
★★★ OWEN WINGRAVE, RNCM, MANCHESTER Battle of a pacifistOrpha Phelan brings on the big guns for Britten’s charge against warIt’s quite ironic that the Royal Northern College of Music should have...
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Small, Hallé, Wong, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review - return to...
Illumination from a conductor with his own signatureKahchun Wong returned to the symphony with which he made his first big impression conducting the Hallé – and made a big impression with it again.
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Mahler's Ninth, BBC Philharmonic, Gamzou, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester review...
A composer-conductor interprets the last completed symphony in breathtaking styleThere was a change of conductor from the one advertised for this BBC Philharmonic performance at the Bridgewater Hall –...
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