Concert Review 2: Britten’s ‘War Requiem’/Sydney Symphony/Ashkenazy

……and this from Murray Black in The Australian.

……and this from Murray Black in The Australian.
As the final notes of Ravel’s String Quartet faded, I wondered what might have coursed through the minds of the players in the Australian String Quartet, especially violinist Sophie Rowell and violist Sally Boud who have chosen to go their own ways from 2012. These four musicians have performed together since 2000, the last 5 years,…
Under Cover of Darkness/ Castalia Vocal Consort Glebe Town Hall 18 June 2022 Vocal consort Castalia, under the fine artistic direction of soprano Amy Moore, returned after their splendid premiere performance in February 2022 with an equally dazzling concert. This time the songs were all linked to the central theme of “nocturnal landscapes and wanderings.”…
Ng plies a highly specialised craft, creating the illusion of a small ensemble from a single instrument. He draws on the features of the era, playing the melodic lines as well as enriching the texture with double and triple stops, weaving ornamentation and arpeggiated chords.
It was the final rehearsal of Opera Australia’s production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld and Artistic Director Lyndon Terracini’s pre-curtain up announcements presaged something different. For this performance only, the audience was encouraged to tweet and secondly, they would be allowed to take photos during the final curtain calls. Stepping even further away from…
Among his many virtues as a composer, Giacomo Puccini was above all, a master of contrast – musical, dramatic and ultimately emotional. He combined musical genius with an incisive theatrical instinct to create operas full of thrilling grandiosity and gripping intimacy, often within minutes of each other. Nowhere is this more evident than in…
Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons must surely be one of the most recorded works in history. Amazon’s listing of available recordings stretches to over 2000. It is a work that represents a coming of age for any violinist aspiring to a solo career. Perlman, Kennedy, Jansen, Shaham and Mutter have added their names to the roll…