Classical Music Reviews from The Arts Desk

As the New Year gets going, The Arts Desk’s classical music reviewers are starting to glance ahead at what we can look forward to this year, but not forgetting, of course, to tell us what there is to enjoy right now. Taking the long view this week is Ismene Brown, who provides her comprehensive season’s listing of what’s on at the Barbican throughout 2012. And it promises to be a bumper season, what with the centre celebrating its 30th birthday this year and all eyes turning to London for the Olympics in the summer. Among the theatre, dance and new music on offer, the classical highlights at the Barbican in 2012 include appearances by Nico Muhly and Sufjan Stevens, an evening commemorating the sinking of the Titanic a century ago, a series of concerts by the visiting New York Philharmonic, an artist profile evening focused on Anne-Sophie Mutter, and Robert Wilson and Philip Glass’s groundbreaking 1976 opera Einstein on the Beach. Graham Rickson gives us his weekly summation of the latest classical CD releases. First up is a disc of Bach’s keyboard concertos with Alexandre Theraud playing piano alongside the Les Violons du Roy chamber orchestra. Together they produce a unique sound, and the technical skill and energy on display here often dazzles and delights. The flaw for Rickson was the rather emotionally cold feel of the recording.

Next is the BBC Symphony Orchestra’s disc of pieces by oft-overlooked composer Elizabeth Maconchy. Though a pupil of Vaughan Williams, Maconchy’s style is edgy, gritty and surprisingly un-English, and although she can occasionally be a bit too dour, there is still some fascinating and impressive stuff on this beautifully produced disc.

And finally Vaughan Williams himself gets a look in as Sir Mark Elder and the Hall Orchestra tackle his London Symphony. Rickson was of the opinion that this symphony shouldn’t really work – it’s episodic, unfashionable for the time and in parts is rather too indebted to Debussy – and yet it truly does, especially when played as well as it is here. The live performance is polished yet emotive, affectionate but never over-indulgent. The studio recording of the Oboe Concerto accompanying it is also beautifully played, with Stphane Rancourt bringing out its melancholy atmosphere and raising it above mere pastoral sentimentalism.

And finally Stephan Walsh flags up a modest yearly classical festival tucked away in Monmouthshire. In St Briavel’s Castle every January young professional musicians gather for the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival. It’s the brainchild of pianist Daniel Tong and violinist Fiona McNaught, and began life as a pleasurable retreat from busy concert schedules for those who love playing chamber music. It soon developed into a fully-fledged festival and this year it runs from 14-22 January and includes talks, events and workshops as well as concerts, and will feature music by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Jancek and Thomas Ads. As always, says Walsh, it will be a warm and welcoming haven characterised by serious musical integrity. And even on the rare occasion when performances are not 100 per cent polished, there is always a freshness to the playing, and an admirable emphasis on reappraising both familiar and unfamiliar pieces. Though admitting a degree of partiality as a trustee of the festival, Walsh was also keen to emphasise his primary role as an appreciative punter just like everyone else.