We left at the interval...

Allhelgonakyrkan, Stockholm, Saturday 12 November 2016 Bengt Forsberg: piano. Ann Hallenberg: mezzo-soprano. Mina Fred: viola. Bengt Forsberg, Mina Fred: Improvisation for viola and piano. Max Reger: Suite Number Two in G minor for solo viola, op 131d: Andante Sten Broman: Fantasy, Fugue and Chorale for viola and piano Clara Schumann: four songs Johannes Brahms: two songs for alto, viola and piano, op.91 Robert Fuchs: viola sonata Encore - Johannes Brahms: Wiegenlied .  An interesting, eclectic programme for this rather sparsely-attended chamber concert in the wooden Allhelgonakyrkan church in Stockholm, where record snowfalls for the time of year made getting around quite tricky and probably kept some regulars away. The evening opened surprisingly with a totally contemporary – intrinsically, since it was done on-the-spot – improvisation by the excellent Bengt Forsberg, well known to many as Anne-Sophie Von Otter’s usual accompanist, and Mina Fred on the viola, ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Wednesday April 15 2015 Conductor: Christoph Eschenbach. Soloist: Leonidas Kavakos Brahms : Violin Concerto Symphony N°1 The last time I heard the VPO in the same theatre I was disappointed. This Brahms concert made up for that in full. Brahms Leonidas Kavakos' playing was so (deceptively) "simple" sounding that it was only as the concerto progressed that I realised what an outstanding performance I was actually hearing. It comes across as effortlessly straightforward, which of course it can't be: a great deal of skill and effort and talent must have gone and go into achieving such undemonstrative, un-flashy virtuosity, such fluency in pianissimo passages played without vibrato, note-perfect. The result reminded me of Ana-Caterina Antonacci's singing - in her case, so conversational she makes you feels as if she's taking you into her confidence: you almost forget she's singing, not just talking to you. ...

Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris, Friday September 26 2014 Philippe Herreweghe, Conductor. Ann Hallenberg, Mezzo Soprano. Orchestre des Champs Elysées. Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg , prelude to act III Mahler: Kindertotenlieder Brahms: symphony N°4.   For reasons I could have done without, I have a special interest in Ann Hallenberg's Mahler. Earlier this year, on account of work, I had to cancel a trip to Berlin to hear her sing Das Lied von der Erde . The Abschied I missed appeared shortly after on internet, the very day deep tragedy struck, and listening to it (many times) helped me cope. Naturally, when I saw she would be singing the Kindertotenlieder in Paris this month, I booked. Mahler Ann Hallenberg has fretted on line that she may not be “the kind of singer the audience wants to hear in Mahler”. She is, of course, wrong to worry. Her Mahler is as anyone who knows her singing would expect: impeccably tuned for a start, perfectly phrased and inte...