“One must be poor to know the luxury of giving!” George Eliot (in Middlemarch) points us to the social circularity behind a gift: and this Hansel given at Snape was a perfect example, with three exceptional musicians, Julius Drake, Mark Padmore and Krzysztof Chorzelski, ‘giving back’ their skills in performance in aid of two charities…
Schubert’s “Unfinished” Symphony no. 8 in B minor and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde received a gleaming treatment from the Philharmonia, conducted by a very athletic Josep Pons. Pons’ sense of powerful control served to underline the deep emotional colours of each piece, the Schubert evoking doubt and fear, the Mahler simply bewildering. Click here to…
Wigmore Hall exacerbates the Dry January Blues with an icy, bare-souled stroll through Schubert’s Winterreise. Schubert was famously so overwhelmed with depression while composing Winterreise that, having invited his friends over to hear its première performance, he failed to turn up. When he eventually pulled himself together enough to physically perform the songs, some months later, his friends didn’t…