Simon

Music, opera, visual arts, theatre, literature

[Simon @SimonRew]

@RoyalAlbertHall please train your bar staff. Twice in 10 days I ordered a single dry martini vermouth and twice they have rung up a martini cocktail - with a high price. They then argued that’s all they could sell me which turned out not to be true!

[Simon @SimonRew]

Konstantin Krimmel and Ammiel Bushakevitz astonishing in Schubert‘s Die Schöne Müllerin @wigmore_hall tonight. Sometimes this cycle feels overshadowed by Winterreise but tonight they catalysed the work into the highest level of art. Unforgettable.

[Simon @SimonRew]

@BostonSymphony on top form last night in Debussy Nocturnes and Mahler 4. Really interesting programme played with infinite care. Andris Nelsons clearly loves this music. Nikola Hillebrand perfect in Das Himmlische Leben

[Simon @SimonRew]

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk @bbcproms was really intense. What a masterpiece. Everyone great but @majeskiamanda WAS Katarina Ismailova. Even semi staged she was completely convincing .

[Simon @SimonRew]

@BBCRadio3 what wonderful thing has happened to Breakfast! Sibelius Symphony 4 yesterday and Beethoven late quartet, Ligeti and War Requiem today! Is this Linton Stephens or the producer?

[Simon @SimonRew]

@bachtrack Why would you want to use this in a live concert? You cannot REALLY listen to music and read stuff at the same time. The magic of music is that it transcends words. Pity the poor performers if the audience is looking at their phones not at them

[Simon @SimonRew]

@LeifOveAndsnes at his very considerable best @wigmore_hall this evening with Chopin 24 preludes and a sonata by Geirr Tviett which was a revelation. Great start to the New Year (and looked and sounded like a new piano?)

[Simon @SimonRew]

@RCM and @nicholascollon please see my (nice) comments on last night’s Mahler 9 over on the other platform…

[Simon @SimonRew]

@RCMLondon and @nicholascollon go to Bluesky to see my comment on tonight’s Mahler 9

[Simon @SimonRew]

@classicjacko @BBCRadio3 @MichaelBerkele2 @bryanferry @BBCSounds By far the most interesting edition recently was with @GarthGreenwell an author whom I did not know. This was a serious discussion about art which is rare on Radio 3 (certainly in prime time) and his choice of music was both interesting and moving.

[Simon @SimonRew]

@solomonsknot truly life enhancing in Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers @wigmore_hall this evening. Stunning performance of a pinnacle of European civilisation

[Simon @SimonRew]

@Martin_Stott @PallantGallery Made it to Chicester today. It was looking its best in the sunshine and the exhibition was absorbing. Pallant is an excellent gallery

[Simon @SimonRew]

@stephenkeeler I’d recommend the two 80 min progs on iplayer showing auditions of 50 young musicians entrants. Short clips but enough to get a sense of the incredible talent of the youngsters. Also alas indicates under- representation of kids from State schools

[Simon @SimonRew]

@arthistorynews They could have used some of the fees for celeb actors to actually stage a bit of Idomeneo instead of using clips from a 1982 Met Opera production which looked like it was a revival of a pre-war production. This kind of thing puts people off opera

[Simon @SimonRew]

@jayrayner1 @terrystiastny You can also see him in Messiaen’s Turangalila symphony on iplayer

[Simon @SimonRew]

@GdnClassical Some reflections on this year‘s Proms here. Overall a very good season. But see my comment on poor TV presentation (an exception was Petroc Trelawny on Messian‘s Turangalila symphony). @bbcproms please note!

[Guardian Classical @GdnClassical]

‘Thrilling, unforgettable … there is nothing else like it!’: readers on their Proms highlights https://t.co/Fa6KsOJfPO

[Simon @SimonRew]

@bachtrack @BerlinPhil @bbcproms 4* for this concert is ridiculous. If that wasn’t 5* I don’t know what is

[Simon @SimonRew]

@bbcproms @RCMLondon @oramsa @BBCiPlayer @BBCSounds The BBC’s TV presentation of Proms this year is woeful. No subtitles for Lara Poe’s song cycle in this prom. And it’s a BBC commission! How is that helping accessibility? In the RAH and on radio the Proms are fine. But why such feeble TV presentation?

[Simon @SimonRew]

@bbcproms @SinfoniaOfLondn @stevenosborne @BBCiPlayer @BBCSounds Baffled by TV commentary. The main piece - John Adam’s Harmonielehre - has movements called ‘The Anfortas wound‘ and ‘Meister Eckhardt and Quackie’. Yet no reference to these titles or their significance. Why not?