Così fan tutte review – Nicholas Hytner’s irresistible production takes a bow

Hytner’s sunny, unironic staging of Mozart’s problematic comedy – about to tour for a final time – is one of the most intelligent and insightful around

Mozart and Beethoven: Violin Sonatas CD review – Ji Young Lim makes an assured and sparky debut

With violin playing so crisp you could dip it in sour cream and onion and hand it round at a party, this is an assured debut from Ji Young Lim. And yet even as the notes spring from her bow, … Continue reading →

Mozart, Britten, Knussen and Françaix: A Tribute to Janet CD review – deft and radical

The Britten Oboe Quartet does justice to the late musician Janet Craxton with its expert handling of five works, including two written for her

Mozart/Schumann Fantaisies CD review – rousingly restrained recitals

It seems to get ever harder to persuade Piotr Anderszewski into a recording studio. His new discs are increasingly rare events – the previous one, containing three of Bach’s English Suites, appeared in 2014, and the Mozart works here date … Continue reading →

Mozart, Ligeti, Bach: Labyrinth CD review – delightful puzzles

Dudok Quartet Amsterdam(Resonus)

Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito CD review – Allemano and Aldrich shine in otherwise undistinguished reconstruction

Even by Mozart’s standards, La Clemenza di Tito was composed in haste, commissioned for the celebrations in Prague marking the coronation of Leopold II as king of Bohemia in September 1791. The opera seria libretto was adapted from a well-used … Continue reading →

Mozart 225 review – all of Amadeus in one big box

Everything that Mozart wrote, in a cleverly planned and comprehensive update of the 1991 set, including some genuine revelations

Huddersfield contemporary music festival; Bath Mozartfest – review

An opera you feel through a pillow is par for the course in Huddersfield. Plus, an intimate Firebird for four hands in Bath

Mozart: Lieder review – supreme tenor Peter Schreier at the height of his powers

Tenor Peter Schreier proves that he is one of the great Lieder singers with this wonderful set of Mozart’s songs

Mozart: Great Mass in C minor; Exsultate, Jubilate CD review – crystalline beauty

Sampson, Vermeulen, Sakurada, Immler, Bach Collegium Japan/Suzuki(BIS)

Don Giovanni review – Richard Jones moves from Mozart with touches of brilliance and BDSM

Jones’s new staging for English National Opera delivers clever insights and a shock twist but ducks the opera’s complexities and, at points, flies in the face of the music’s logic

Mozart: Zaide CD review – unfinished harem opera reveals its deeply serious side

Ian Page and Classical Opera’s searching version of Mozart’s incomplete work is faithful to Mozart’s intentions, with stark notes of tragedy

Quatuor Van Kuijk: Mozart’s String Quartets CD review – well-judged debut with a sense of fun

Winners of the Wigmore Hall’s prestigious string quartet competition last year, the young French ensemble Quatuor Van Kuijk are currently BBC New Generation Artists, so UK audiences can expect to hear a lot more of them. Their debut recording doesn’t … Continue reading →

Die Entführung aus dem Serail CD review – full of bounce and clatter

Le Cercle de l’Harmonie/Rhorer(Alpha)

Mozart: Piano Trios KV 502, 542 & 564 CD review – agility and intimacy

Rautio Piano Trio(Resonus)