LSO/Pascal review – less is more with brand new Boulez homages
Smetana: Má Vlast; Symphonic Works album review – bristles with energy and vivid intent
Vivaldi: The Four Seasons album review – Pioro’s ‘ode to the imagination’ of Vivaldi has interest but also indulgence
Mariam Batsashvili review – star pianist takes Romantics to another level without frills
Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners/Ensemble Klang review – anarchic energy
Sacconi Quartet/Festival Voices review – Riley’s Sun Rings shine less brightly
Rufus Wainwright: Dream Requiem album review – a sense of special occasion, all concerned believe in it
Debussy: String Quartet & Sonatas album review – the Nash bring warmth and understanding
LSO/Rattle review – old, new, borrowed and Boulez for conductor’s birthday concerts
Scarlatti: Daniele album review – unearthed oratorio takes listener into the lion’s den
Tippett: Piano Concerto; Symphony No 2 album review – the energy of the music is irrepressible
Billie Eilish, Sex Pistols and Beethoven’s skull: music to listen out for in 2025
December 2024
Christian Gerhaher/Gerold Huber review – Gerhaher is unmatched singing Schumann
This absorbing recital shone a light on some of the composer’s lesser known songs
2024 in Culture
From exquisite Elgar to razor-sharp Cage: our classical recordings of the year
A piano prodigy burst onto the scene, studio opera recordings were few and far between – and the year’s most rewarding discs were the ones that ventured beyond the mainstream
Nikolai Lugansky review – lots of notes, lots of noise, but precious little poetry
Concerto Italiano/Alessandrini review – purity and expressiveness as natural as breathing
Messiaen: Turangalîla-Symphonie album review – Yuja Wang’s solo piano dazzles
November 2024
Let it show: find an event for every day until Christmas with our culture advent calendar
From The Nutcracker in Glasgow and the Human League in Cardiff to Messiaen in Manchester and Maggie Mistletoe in Farnham, our critics pick the best cultural events in the run-up to Christmas
Schubert, Ter Schiphorst, Andre album review – something old, something new
Alongside a rather brittle Death and the Maiden, contemporary composers Iris ter Schiphorst adds a recorder to a string quartet while Marc Andre’s miniatures study textures
Hasse: Serpentes Ignei in Deserto album review – dazzling performances bring this oratorio of snakes on a plain to life
Thibault Noally captures the exuberance of Hasse’s 18th-century ‘church opera’ originally written for female voices
