The Guardian: The English Concert/Bicket review – Handel of grace and elan as Bicket takes us back to 1749 London
This recreation of the composer’s benefit concert for the Foundling Hospital was beautifully delivered
Harry Bicket and the English Concert have recently embarked on an extraordinary and ambitious project entitled Handel for All, the aim of which is to eventually make their own filmed performances of the composer’s entire output available free online. This Barbican concert essentially recreated an afternoon in May 1749, when Handel gave a benefit performance of his own works in aid of the Foundling Hospital in London. The programme, then as now, consisted of the Music for the Royal Fireworks, extracts from Solomon, and the Foundling Hospital Anthem, newly composed for the occasion, though much of it actually recycled existing material, including the Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah.
The Guardian: Mahan Esfahani – ‘The harpsichord is like the posh, pretty boy in prison’
Mahan Esfahani was nine when he first heard a harpsichord. He and his parents were visiting Iran, the country where he was born, and which his family had left for the US five years before. “An uncle gave me a bunch of cassettes,” he says. “One was of Karl Richter [the German conductor and harpsichordist] playing Bach. Well, I listened to it, and I thought: ‘This is what I’ve got to do.’ I don’t mean in terms of a career. I just thought my life would be well spent in the company of this instrument. I thought I would get a profession, which is what every Iranian parent wants for their child, and that – once I was a doctor or lawyer – I’d be able to buy a harpsichord, and play at home.”
The Guardian: Facing the music - Long Yu
The Chinese conductor – music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra and artistic director of Beijing Music Festival – on his musical inspirations, from Beethoven to Benjamin, and Karajan to Qigang Chen
The Guardian: Haochen Zhang's CD review – An Intimate, Artful Piano Recital
Haochen Zhang is both a prodigiously award-winning pianist and a self-confessed introvert, and the wide-ranging choice of repertoire on his first studio disc reflects this
The Guardian: Orchestral maneuvers in the park - classical festivals in stunning scenery
The hills of America’s most stunning national parks including Grand Teton will be alive this summer with the sound of music to celebrate the centenary of the National Park Service