Ludovico Einaudi, crossover star
The Italian pianist and composer is one of the world’s most successful musicians – and a bundle of contradictions, writes Laura Battle
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Schnittke’s Faust, Royal Festival Hall, London
Though Vladimir Jurowski led a superb staging, the piece belongs in the more forgettable sector of the composer’s legacy, writes Andrew Clark
The Decemberists, HMV Forum, London
This American band precisely capture the pretty acoustic guitars and crashing riffs of its source material – English folk-rock of the late-1960s and early-1970s, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Robert Glasper/Marcus Roberts, London Jazz Festival
Mike Hobart is impressed by two fresh American takes on the acoustic piano trio
Die Frau ohne Schatten, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
With this staging, the opera seems the summit of Strauss’s achievement, says George Loomis
Rihanna, Brixton Academy, London
The mood at this promo concert for new album ‘Rated R’ was dark and aggressive, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Muse, O2 Arena, London
Without Matt Bellamy’s pyrotechnic guitar shredding this was standard post-grunge churn, writes Richard Clayton
From the House of the Dead, Metropolitan Opera, New York
When the curtain fell, stunned silence preceded the inevitable ovation, writes Martin Bernheimer
Staff Benda Bilili, Barbican, London
The Congolese band have an extraordinary back story. But what mattered at this gig was their extraordinary music, which confirmed them as the most exciting group to emerge from Africa in years, David Honigmann writes
Beyoncé, O2 Arena, London
The singing was excellent, the dancing immaculate, the spectacle dazzling – but the cumulative effect of the show’s meticulously programmed bigness and bluster was ultimately wearing, writes David Cheal
Sonny Rollins/John Scofield, London
Mike Hobart hears Sonny Rollins spin grandiose structures from the simplest materials in his headlining concert at the London Jazz Festival
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More live reviews
Fleetwood Mac, Wembley Arena, London
The rock survivors notorious for their excesses are in implausibly good form, writes Ludovic Hunter-Tilney
Portico Quartet/Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Anvil, Basingstoke, UK
David Honigmann is impressed by a double bill of two unlikely Mercury Prize nominees
Lang Lang/Tilson Thomas, Carnegie Hall, New York
Martin Bernheimer enjoys a stellar, zigzagging east-meets-west mishmash
Porgy and Bess, Royal Festival Hall, London
With past efforts to get opera to work in the confines of this venue having had limited success, it is a measure of the strength of Cape Town Opera’s cast that they made such a good fist of it, writes Richard Fairman
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