Why should the sound of a consort of four viols be more moving than that of a string quartet? It goes against all logic. With its flat back, and played like a Middle-Eastern spike-fiddle, the v...Read More
Should we know the story behind the creation of a piece of music, or should we let it speak for itself? The British cellist Steven Isserlis poses this question in the liner note to a CD he has just re...Read More
The Wigmore Hall is running two Beethoven sonata cycles in tandem, at different speeds: while Igor Levit gets stuck into his cycle, Llyr Williams continues his in a more leisurely arc. And since in Oc...Read More
When Semyon Bychkov raises his baton at the start of his Tchaikovsky series at London’s Barbican next week [Oct 19], the hall will be packed, as will New York’s Lincoln Center when he repeats the ...Read More
Words are of limited usefulness in evoking music, but we critics aren’t usually lost for them, so it came as a surprise to find, the morning after the Meshk Ensemble’s performance at the Barbicanâ...Read More