At one point I caught myself thinking, ‘How did this man ever write four-part motets? He can’t even write basic soprano-bass counterpoint.’ The one time the bass did anything it was that tired descending line borrowed from Meistersinger, which created only a momentary interest of passing dissonance. And that trite scherzo – I spent the whole time wishing Mahler had written it.

Read full (fun) review here.

More, please….

While you enjoy your weekend:

This is a homeless man in Newcastle train station, soaking wet with a drenched sleeping bag over his shoulders.His name is Alan, he is 26 and he has been living on the streets for 18 months.

He plays Für Elise, Moonlight Sonata and other Beethoven standards.

Do not avert your eyes. Can you do something to help?

picture (c) North News and Pictures Ltd

A play about the 1958 meeting of minds between Dmitri Shostakovich and the Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin opens next month at Sadlers Wells.  From the blurb:

In 1958, at the height of his artistic ability and reputation, the composer Dmitri Shostakovich was invited by Oxford University to receive an Honorary Doctorate of Music, along with fellow musician Francis Poulenc and other dignitaries. From the initial invitation by Oxford to Shostakovich in Moscow, the story is a fascinating, humorous and poignant portrayal of the clash of two distinct, and distinctly insular, worlds: the Byzantine rituals and orotundity of Oxford University and the unsmiling officialdom of Soviet Russia.

Details here.

Mike Marshall and Caterina Lichtenberg have made a world premiere recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, Organ Duets and Canons from the Art of the Fugue arranged for mandolin and mandocello.

Brave. Try some.