Sometimes there’s no need to blow your own trumpetPublicity can be misleading, as in the case of a fine trumpeterWed Jul 24 2013 - 01:00
‘Horrid’ music: The dark side of the concert hallThe idea that classical music ought to be ‘nice’ has gained an alarming currency. Thank goodness, then, for ‘uneasy listening’ numbers performed at the Summer Baroque FestivalWed Jul 17 2013 - 01:00
Stirring rendition of Enescu’s ‘Octet’The RTÉ Vanbrugh and Jupiter String Quartets produced a blitz of energyWed Jul 10 2013 - 01:00
Radical rule-breaking and back to basicsThere is a time for artistic licence – and a time to focus on basics of performing: William Brooks on Yeats, and string quartet masterclasses at the West Cork Chamber Music FestivalWed Jul 03 2013 - 01:00
Out of the chamber and into the worldThe reach and reputation of the West Cork Chamber Music Festival resonates beyond the Bantry venuesFri Jun 28 2013 - 01:00
Blown away on the beach by Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes at the Aldeburgh Festival and Astor Piazzolla’s María de Buenos Aires at the Cork Midsummer FestivalTue Jun 25 2013 - 01:00
Who lives in a house like this?The KBC Great Music in Irish Houses festival is taking a liberal view of its title – which is not without its benefitsTue Jun 18 2013 - 01:00
THREE CENTURIES OF ORGAN MUSIC AT NOTRE DAME DE PARISOlivier Latry (organ)Naive V5338Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
STRAUSS: JOSEPHSLEGENDE; LOVE SCENE FROM FEUERSNOT; FESTMARSCHRoyal Scottish National Orchestra/Neeme JärviChandos CHSA 5120Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
STRAVINSKY: COMPLETE MUSIC FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRASteven Osborne (piano), BBC Scottish SO/Ilan VolkovHyperion CDA 67870Fri Jun 14 2013 - 00:00
Michael Collins: ‘It’s got to come from within. From your heart and your very soul’English clarinettist Michael Collins has a formidable wealth of experience, but, he says, every concert is still a new learning environmentMon Jun 10 2013 - 01:00
A spring break with tradition that’s now a musical rite of passageA century on, Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’ still has the power to shock and awe, and musicians are still finding ways to transform itWed Jun 05 2013 - 01:00
Rachmaninov’s Vigil worth staying up forConcerts by Resurgam and the RTÉ NSO and what operas producers want to put onTue May 28 2013 - 01:00
An early music duo, and ‘Carmen’ by way of ‘Tallafornia’Early music was on the agenda at two concerts, while OTC’s ‘Carmen’ was defiantly contemporaryTue May 21 2013 - 02:00
The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is out of touch with the music of its own timeThe RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is failing to engage with modern music, and this needs to changeTue May 14 2013 - 02:00
From intimacy on the guitar, to a percussive musical stormRoland Dyens was in charming form at the Guitar Festival of Ireland, while Mantra Percussion tried to take the Drogheda Arts Festival by stormWed May 08 2013 - 07:00
Four views of Berlin, from east to west and music to museumsWho better to ask for a tour of Berlin than some of its finest musicians, the Vogler Quartet?Fri May 03 2013 - 07:00