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New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Nick Kimberley's rating
Reader rating
French pianist Jean-Yves Thibaudet is best known in the work of his compatriots Debussy, Ravel and Satie, which he plays with suave finesse. It's a surprise, then, to hear him in such splashy Soviet-era music as Aram Khachaturian's 1936 Piano Concerto.
One moment as luridly tuneful as Shostakovich in Keystone Cops mode, then suddenly spacious and delicate, the concerto switches mood with the ease of a film score. With the Philharmonia under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos in uncompromising form, Thibaudet negotiated the shifts almost nonchalantly.
His left hand rattled the bass register with fearsome power but there was also a light-fingered, even jazzy subtlety. The orchestra played its part, notably slithery bass-clarinet and lamenting oboe, although the second movement's optional flexitone proved as intrusive as a mobile phone.
It is a fine match with Carl Orff 's Carmina Burana. Not for nothing are the Carmina good box-office, and it's not the composer's fault if their gestures are so deeply embedded in the musical language of advertising that they have become clichés.
None of the three soloists was unstretched but baritone William Dazeley brought broad operatic humour to the poet's drunken reverie. Fruhbeck gave players and singers their head; given a full-frontal attack, Orff still hits home.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
