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Singer Gerald Finley and saxophonist Jess Gillam lend class and glitz to a traditional finale
Pieces by Finzi and Shostakovich presented contrasting views of postwar music
David Pountney plays it relatively straight with his production of Wagner’s opera
David Pountney’s production comes into its own as the opera progresses
Conductor Andrew Davis brings clarity out of the maverick’s chaos, with four canvases of US life as the main item
Jimmy López’s terrorism-themed first opera features a staggeringly eclectic, texturally rich score
Heartfelt performances of three composers’ works from Tasmin Little and the BBC Philharmonic
Berg’s opera is powerfully sung in an imaginative production by David McVicar
The album represents the best of the UK composer, performed with noble feeling by the BBC Symphony Chorus and Orchestra
Andrew Davis sifts the composer’s complexities with clarity, beginning with the conservative First Symphony
Susan Stroman’s production ramps up the cutesiness to offset the venue’s lack of intimacy
Andrew Davis’s performance is accomplished but Stuart Skelton’s effortless singing aspires to a Wagnerian scale
Beautifully performed Britten easily eclipsed a jarring mash-up of Dufay and Heider
An opening night of cool control amid oppressive heat, a second of crowd-pleasing from China
‘The virtues of the BBC still seem to me to outshine its admittedly glaring faults’
Tippett’s libretto is so much psychobabble, but his score bursts with radiant musical ideas
Michael Grandage’s revived production makes a handsome offering for Britten’s centenary year
Renée Fleming was an elegantly dispassionate Countess in Strauss’s wordy opera-about-opera
Selections of scores that stir the national spirit
The staging of Mozart’s ‘dramma giocoso’ is right on the button; the Grange Park show is more sober, but that can hardly be counted a sin
Studio performances with Tasmin Little and Paul Watkins
International Edition