After many years as a musician – conducting choirs, singing as a lay clerk at Winchester Cathedral and an involvement in education, David now writes programme notes, occasionally composes and enjoys a busy schedule of reviewing.
Mozart and 1784 is the basis for this latest OAE venture, an engaging programme that highlights the flawless technique of 18th-century keyboard specialist Kristian Bezuidenhout.
Shostakovich's Fourth Symphony is given its first performance in Poole in a Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert which included another opportunity to hear the music of Feodor Akimenko.
Once more Kirill Karabits turned eastwards for inspiration and delivered persuasive renditions of two seldom heard works prefaced by a startlingly new work of arresting sonorities.
A memorable evening of superb music-making at the Royal Festival Hall, illuminating two well-known Vaughan Williams scores and shining a light on a seldom performed rarity.
Works by Mahler and Stravinsky bookend this Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra concert, but the world premiere shakes the dust off a century-old concerto by Feodor Akimenko.
A mixed bag of performances at Covent Garden, but with an outstanding Butterfly who brings ample rewards to an evening where the emotional temperature eventually soars.
A world premiere, a rarely performed concerto and a slice of late Rachmaninov formeda well-conceived programme that also featured the internationally renowned Labèquesisters.
Hard driven and, at times, uncompromising ferocity for Mahler's Sixth Symphony, coupled with an engaging and sensitive account of Elgar's Sea Pictures.
The American conductor led strong, characterful performances of Britten and Shostakovich that prompted some misgivings by their execution but made a powerful impression overall.
Mixed performances that highlighted Francesco Dego's riveting account of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto, bookended by Berlioz's ground-breaking symphony and a rare overture by Louise Farrenc.
A mainly French programme of Chabrier, Saint-Saëns and Franck drew mixed performances, but it was a memorable performance of the latter's Symphony in D minor that crowned the evening at Poole's Lighthouse.
