Music
For the Love of Brahms
Friendship is the theme of Joshua Bell’s latest album, For the Love of Brahms. Long-term friends Stephen Isserlis (cello) and Jeremy Denk (piano) join Bell to perform Brahms’ Double Concerto for Violin and Cello and the 1854 version of…
Shine A Light by Billy Bragg and Joe Henry
I must confess I expected this album to be another version of Mermaid Avenue, the wonderful set of albums released by Bragg and Wilco all those years ago using the lyrics of Woody Guthrie. I was a fair way…
Bach by Nemanja Radulovic
Bach has been recorded, re-recorded and then re-done, re-worked and re-recorded again. But never have I heard such an arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor as this on Nemanja Radulovic’s latest album. I’ve heard this work…
Mozart by Richard Galliano
Have you ever wondered what might’ve happened if Mozart had been born a Parisian busker rather than an Austrian composer? Neither had I until I heard virtuoso French accordionist Richard Galliano’s Mozart album. Normally I am a purest, and find…
Faure / JC Bach / Mozart / Britten / Gounod Chamber Music by Inventi Ensemble
On Sunday 6 August, 1933, Benjamin Britten, along with his family and friends, gathered to listen to a broadcast of his Phantasy Quartet for oboe and strings. He was none too impressed, noting in his diary that the string players…
Shostakovich: Piano Trios Nos. 1 & 2 / Viola Sonata
I begin with a confession: I have listened to little of Shostakovich’s music, and am familiar with only his most famous compositions such as The Gadfly and symphonies four and five. I therefore knew not what to expect of his…
Brahms: Lieder & Liebeslieder Waltzes
In 2003, at the Verbier Festival in the Swiss Alps, four singers with fabulously contrasting voices got together with James Levine on piano to perform Brahms’ chamber music. Thirteen years later Deutsche Grammophon made the welcome decision to release the…
Shostakovich & Glazunov: Violin Concertos
The always talented Nicola Benedetti returns to the catalogue with a recording of the historic Shostakovich Violin Concerto and the lovely and underrated Glazunov Violin Concerto. The dark opening strains of the Shostakovich concerto show his mental torment during the…
Testament: J.S. Bach - Complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Rachel Barton Pine
American violinist Rachel Barton Pine is not an Australian household name – surprising, considering the fantastic array of awards and accolades under her belt, and even more surprising once you hear her formidable playing. Born in 1974, Pine debuted with…
The Secret Lover by TENET
Having recently read Anna Beer’s fascinating book on forgotten female composers, Sounds and Sweet Airs, I listened with interest to TENET’S The Secret Lover. The CD features music for and by the concerto delle donne (consort of ladies)…
Browse our reviews by category
