Album Review: Benjamin Grosvenor Homages
When I spoke to Benjamin Grosvenor in 2012 during a brief visit to Sydney to launch his album Rhapsody in Blue, the young British pianist commented that although his repertoire embraced composers from JS Bach through Chopin and Scriabin, to Saint-Saëns, Ravel and Gershwin, the Romantics have been his first love. His favourite composer at the time…
Album Review: Bach Goldberg Variations, Mahan Esfahani
Virtuoso harpsichord player Mahan Esfahani has released a new recording of J S Bach’s Goldberg Variations on the Deutsche Grammophon label. Australian audiences will remember his brilliant performance at Brisbane Baroque 2016 where he was a leading act. The release of this disc coincides with Esfahani’s December 2016 performance of the Goldberg Variations at London’s…
Concert Review: Nelson Mass/ Sydney Chamber Choir
Nelson Mass Sydney Chamber Choir/ Australian Romantic and Classical Orchestra/ Richard Gill City Recital Hall, October 1, 2016 From Dreaming to Distress, the Sydney Chamber Choir performed masses themed around these diametrically opposed ideas in their concert last weekend. Conducted by Richard Gill AO, the choir was joined by the newly re-branded Australian Romantic and…
CD Review: ‘Alleluia’ – Brilliance and beauty from Julia Lezhneva
This review was first published in June 2013. The album contains four motets by composers whose music Julia Lezhneva will perform during her October tour of Australia with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. “From time to time a really outstanding talent appears and I believe that Julia Lezhneva is just that. The brilliance of her voice…
CD Review: Handel/ Julia Lezhneva/ Il GIardino Armonico
This review was first published in December 2015. Julia Lezhneva will perform in Sydney with the Australian Chamber Orchestra at the City Recital Hall. Her concert programme includes Handel’s ‘Salve Regina’ which is on this album. Russian soprano Julia Lezhneva thrilled Australian audiences when she performed at Hobart Baroque and gave a recital in…
Concert Review: Schubert Immersion Weekend / Seraphim Trio
Seraphim Trio: Helen Ayres (violin), Anna Goldsworthy (piano), Tim Nankervis (cello) With Jacqui Cronin (viola), David Campbell (double bass) 10-11 September 2016, The Independent Theatre, North Sydney Written by Larry Turner The Seraphim Trio has nominated 2016 as ‘our year of total immersion in Schubert’. This culminated in a splendid weekend when they presented…
Concert Review: Sato and the Romantics/Australian Brandenburg Orchestra
Australian Brandenburg Orchestra Violin soloist Shunske Sato, Artistic Director Paul Dyer 7 September 2016, City Recital Hall, Angel Place Written by Larry Turner The Australian Brandenburg Orchestra’s Artistic Director, Paul Dyer, continually searches for new repertoire for the ABO or new perspectives for familiar repertoire. In the fourth concert of their 2016 series they left…
Concert Review: Australian Chamber Choir/ Bach In The Castle Of Heaven
The Australian Chamber Choir, conductor Douglas Lawrence August 21, 2016, Crypt of St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney It was an afternoon of heavenly music presented by the Melbourne based Australian Chamber Choir, directed by Douglas Lawrence. Inspired by John Eliot Gardiner’s tome Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven, the programme, Bach in the Castle…
Concert Review: The Metropolitan Orchestra/ The ‘Great’
‘The Metropolitan Orchestra, conductor Sarah-Grace Williams Violin soloist Glenn Christensen 20 August 2016, Eugene Goossens Hall, ABC Centre, Ultimo Written by Larry Turner The Metropolitan Orchestra is arguably the doyen of Sydney’s non-salaried symphony orchestras. In the fourth concert of their main 2016 Sydney series they performed just two works which are now standard repertoire but neither of…