Claude Debussy RSS feed

Tree of dreams blossoms with Gergiev

2009-09-20T23:00:00Z

No promoter feels safe until Valery Gergiev's actually on the rostrum but once there, his absorption and charisma are all-encompassing.

Herbie Hancock to the rescue

2009-07-12T23:00:00Z

Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang's strange concert, a thing of fits and starts, took the form of a mystery tour.

Chanel�s Lagerfeld puts the fashion back in ballet

2009-06-17T10:04:28Z

It was a case of high fashion both on and off stage at Sadler�s Wells.

Derek Paravicini, the 'human ipod', is truly gifted.

2009-06-08T23:00:00Z

Derek Paravicini has been called a musical savant, an autistic genius and, less flatteringly, the human iPod.

Rainbow View has still got the class to shine through

2009-06-04T09:48:19Z

Horse racing: There was no pot of gold for her backers at the end of the 1,000 Guineas, which left plenty finding flaws in Rainbow View

Crowded House Derby challenge is still not certain

2009-06-01T14:56:55Z

Horse racing: Crowded House is a surprise inclusion among 13 entries unveiled at the six-day stage for the Derby at Epsom

Maazel shows his magic touch

2009-04-02T23:00:00Z

If a little dramatic character went missing, the closing funeral march had a real feeling of grief barely choked back in Maazel's show.

Julietta brought alive by staging

2009-03-29T23:00:00Z

Belohl�vek kept things moving, making smooth transitions between speech and song, and reaching a powerful conclusion in Julietta.

A brutalism borne in the Resistance

2009-03-09T00:00:00Z

For many years the BBC mounted an annual celebration of a contemporary composer that left few stones unturned. One emerged from those weekends battered, exhilarated and infinitely better informed

Tokyo Sonata does credit crunch, Japanese style

2009-01-29T00:00:00Z

Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa won a Jury Prize at Cannes for Tokyo Sonata, a drama about Ryuhei Sasaki.

Twilight is a teen vamp thing

2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

Is it wise to fall for a bloodsucker? Twilight is a fantasy that makes it look harmless enough.

Debussy's elusive masterpiece

2008-11-19T00:00:00Z

Debussy's Pell�as et M�lisande, premiered in 1902, may be the first great opera of the 20th century yet it remains marginal repertoire.

Barbirolli Quartet are timbre merchants

2008-09-18T23:00:00Z

In terms of quantity and quality, Schubert's string quartets constitute a major body of work. A shame, then, that the Barbirolli Quartet could find room for just one.

Violins thrill at E�tv�s premiere

2008-08-27T23:00:00Z

E�tv�s's two-movement elegy launches straight in on high, with stratospheric violin textures offset by ensemble sounds.

Stock exchanges at the Proms

2008-08-03T23:00:00Z

Barely scratching the surface of Stockhausen's career, the Proms' tribute nevertheless demonstrated what makes him so fascinating.

Twice as impressive

2008-05-19T23:00:00Z

The stimulating double bill of Hiromi and Mina Agossi offers an unusually wide spectrum of feminine wiles, says Jack Massarik.

Mehler shows more rhythm

2008-01-15T00:00:00Z

Young New Yorker Elan Mehler plays jazz as Debussy, Ravel or Chopin might have done if teleported into a Manhattan basement jam session.

A full-frontal attack

2007-11-21T00:00:00Z

Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos gave the players and singers of the Philharmonia their heads in an uncompromising performance.

Pianist with a big appetite

2007-09-27T23:00:00Z

Czech pianist Ivan Moravec showed that even at nearly 77, he has not lost his appetite for strenuous programmes.

Youths rise to Wagner challenge

2007-09-26T09:34:06Z

The London Schools Symphony Orchestra was magnificent in this weighty programme, whispering sympathetically and soaring confidently.

Rich sounds of the Concertgebouw

2007-08-27T23:00:00Z

The sounds that the Royal Concertgebouw, led by Bernard Haitink, made at the Proms were as remarkable as ever.

A jittery and fast late-night Prom

2007-07-31T23:00:00Z

Ivan Volkov enjoyed an enterprising programme with the BBC Singers, while the late night Prom from London Sinfonietta was a dazzling affair.

Sex and death in Italy

2007-07-29T23:00:00Z

A breathless eroticism pounds through Montemezzi's L'Amore dei tre Re as violently and noisily as a stampede of horses over cobbles, says Fiona Maddocks.

The thrill of Prokofiev

2007-06-14T23:00:00Z

Valery Gergiev conducted a thrilling performance of Prokofiev's rarely heard Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution.

That's your Lott

2007-05-15T11:21:02Z

Internationally acclaimed soprano Dame Felicity Lott sings a selection of French melodies at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Passion boxed in

2007-05-13T23:00:00Z

Musical standards ruled, even if the tedium of the Pell�as and M�lisande production did its devilish and level best to hijack minds and flatten imagination.

Short on thrills

2007-03-29T23:00:00Z

Valery Gergiev might be a regular visitor to the London concert scene, but Barry Millington warns against prejudging his music. The Russian conductor is not as predictable as he makes out.

A faune in combat with the present

2006-10-16T23:00:00Z

D'un soir un jour opens with a silent re-enactment of L'Apres-midi d'un faune, only with a woman rather than a man.

Hammering the ivories

2006-10-02T23:00:00Z

Young Russian pianist Eduard Kunz runs the gamut from sensitive introspection to fullblooded, muscularity, says Barry Millington.

Rattle brings new fire to Philharmonic

2006-09-03T23:00:00Z

Rumblings of discontent in the German media concerning Simon Rattle's stewardship of the Berlin Philharmonic can safely be discounted.