Present for the future: A Hansel at Snape Maltings
“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…
Anguish with or without words: the Philharmonia plays Schubert and Mahler
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…
Forever walked alone: Gerald Finley and Julius Drake’s Winterreise at Wigmore Hall
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…