Music

Carl Maria von Weber: The Clarinet Concertos

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Beautiful, lush romantic strings set this recording off. Then the clarinet enters, with a wailing sound – not at all what I was expecting. There is an edge to the clarinet tone, with a brightness that cuts straight over the…

Read more ›

Antonio Vivaldi: Lost Concertos for Anna Maria

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

There was a time in Venice when baby girls could be dropped through a slot, similar to a libraryreturns chute, and so be abandoned to be raised in a convent. If a young girl was (relatively speaking) lucky enough to…

Read more ›

Chanson d’Amour by Sabine Devieilhe & Alexandre Tharaud

Reviewed by Alexandra Mathew

In Chanson d’Amour, heavenly-voiced Sabine Devieilhe takes us on a journey to France, via the music of Fauré, Ravel, Poulenc and Debussy. I know her best as an opera singer possessed of a stratospherically high vocal range, and on…

Read more ›

Brahms: Symphonies 3 & 4 Richard Tognetti & Australian Chamber Orchestra

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

There is nothing in the world quite like an electrifying live performance. I know we have all been missing that feeling of sitting in the middle of the music, hearing the orchestra breathe together and create something new from centuries-old…

Read more ›

Britten: Peter Grimes by Edward Gardner & Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra

Reviewed by Alexandra Mathew

To visit Benjamin Britten’s home of Aldeburgh is to enter the world of Peter Grimes. Standing on the beach, listening to the waves roll in from the North Sea, is to hear the very sound that inspired the moving Sea

Read more ›

Vivaldi: Works for Clarinet and Orchestra Martin Frost & Concerto Koln

Reviewed by Kate Rockstrom

Historians believe that the clarinet was first invented around 1700. At the time, composers were demanding more from their musicians, and trumpeters were not able to cope with the fast passages in the ‘clarion’ register, so the clarinet was developed…

Read more ›

Letter To You by Bruce Springsteen

Reviewed by Ellen Cregan

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band go back a long way – they first played together almost five decades ago, in 1972. Springsteen selected the members of this band to back him on his debut record, Greetings from Asbury

Read more ›

Corelli: Concerti Grossi, Op. 6 by Genesis Baroque, Sophie Gent & Lucinda Moon

Reviewed by Alexandra Mathew

An optimistic young wanderer happens upon a brook, which leads him to a mill, and in turn to the beautiful millers daughter – ‘die schöne mullerin’. He falls in love, but the girl’s heart belongs to another. In despair, the…

Read more ›

Schubert: Die Schone Mullerin by David Greco & Erin Helyard

Reviewed by Alexandra Mathew

Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) was an influential composer, and the earliest famed solely for his instrumental works. His contemporaries were (and remain) known for their vocal compositions as much as their instrumental ones, so it is unusual that Corelli has such…

Read more ›

Sunday (The Gospel According To Iso) by Vika & Linda

Reviewed by Dave Clarke

‘You’re going to give it a good review, aren’t you, Daddy?’ It was more of a command than a question from my twelve-year-old daughter as we sat at home one day during home-schooling, listening to the new Vika & Linda…

Read more ›