Contents – March 2011

‘Virgin’s contrived all-star cast has even the smallest roles performed by A-list singers’ David Vickers on Vivaldi’s Ercole su’l Termodonte starring Villazón and DiDonato, reviewed on page 90

Letters A little Liszt; traducing Toscanini

8

editor’s choice Lisa Batiashvili’s Shostakovich; Rattle returns to the Resurrection;

Power plays Hindemith

12

S o u n d b i t e S

t o p F o t o

,

F o r m a s e

&

s i l m

F

B r e a k t h r u

2 0 0 6

:

p h o t o g r a p h y

For the record Riccardo Chailly re-signs with Decca; Renée Fleming takes on new role in Chicago; the OAE’s own-label launch

14

a conversation with…

…violinist Daniel Hope

19

diary As three of his works are recorded for NMC, composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle muses on life and music

21

one to watch Violinist Charlie Siem, 25, lands a new contract with Warner Classics

23

richard eyre The art of directing and conducting

25

PhiLiP Kennicott Is it time for a Halévy revival?

26

recordings on triaL Furtwängler’s 1951 Bayreuth performance of Beethoven’s Ninth is in the dock, as two

Gramophone critics dispute the case

28

www.gramophone.co.uk

F e A t u R e S

sir thomas Beecham This month marks the 50th anniversary of the death of the great podium personality, Sir Thomas Beecham. Rob Cowan goes in search of the man behind the quips

34

steve reich In advance of a Barbican retrospective, Philip Clark interviews the minimalist revolutionary

40

the cardinaLL’s musicK The early music vocal ensemble turn to the music of Robert Parsons

46

the gramoPhone coLLection Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf – Jeremy Nicholas enters the menagerie of recordings

48

Understanding Beecham: seeking the serious musician beyond the one-liners 34

e n C o R e musicaL journeys Lully at Versailles, Havergal Brian in Brisbane and Malkovich in Vienna

107

PicK oF the musicaL month

Artists gather in Georgia for the

Savannah Music Festival

111

audio and visuaL Cambridge Audio’s compact surround-sound speaker array

112

my music Film director Mike Figgis on how cinema usurped opera

130

Young Soviet animal-keeper captures wolf, saves menagerie…but which Peter fares best? 48

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