Review: Peter Maxwell Davies: Eight Songs for a Mad King (Psappha)
Valuable re-issues of Maxwell Davies at his most iconic and provocative.
Michael Quinn is a former theatre director and BBC Radio Drama producer who writes about classical music, opera and theatre. A former Deputy Editor of Gramophone, he is obituaries editor for The Stage, booklet editor for SOMM Recordings, and programming consultant to Northern Ireland’s newest arts centre, The Portico of Ards.
Valuable re-issues of Maxwell Davies at his most iconic and provocative.
A wondrous start to Bychkov and the Czech Phil’s Mahler symphony cycle.
A superb updating of Strindberg’s timeless tale of toxic sexual attraction.
Gardiner’s thrilling third St John blazes with passion and power.
Grigorian compels in a recital of bleeding, heart-on-sleeve Rachmaninov.
Saint-Saëns’ narcotic-laced rarity charms despite dubious depiction of the Orient.
Excellent introduction to chamber music by Gavin Higgins that packs a punch.
Bohemian fantasies beguiling transformed by Camerata Zürich.
Roth and colleagues conjure beauty and terror in Weinberg’s riveting chamber music.
A heartfelt response to COVID isolation ardently, eloquently performed.
Barry breaks all the rules in riotous, through the looking glass re-telling of Alice.
Two very different voices blended with consummate finesse by the Parker Quartet.
An effervescent exercise in musical acrobatics from Sol Gab and Pat Kop.