Music Gallery
News & Reviews
Dame Janet Baker wins Critics’ Circle award for Distinguished Service to the Arts
One of the greatest living stars of British classical music, the mezzo-soprano Dame Janet Baker CH DBE, was voted the winner of the 2019 Critics' Circle Rosebowl by the 500 members of the Circle. Regrettably both the announcement and the award have been delayed by the...
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Robert Layton
Robert — ‘Bob’ — Layton, the celebrated musicologist, author and, for 31 years, a BBC Radio Producer, died on 9th November at the age of 90. He was a member of the Critics’ Circle from 1966. He contributed regularly to a wide variety of publications but as a critic...
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Battle of Hastings
For more than a hundred years, pianists have been doing battle in the seaside town of Hastings on the south coast of England. Originally, the competition featured local players in the context of a general music festival but eventually the keyboard section became...
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Purcell Odes: The English Concert, St John’s Smith Square
Melancholy never seems far away from any concert these days, and the final celebratory piece aside, the English Concert gave us a Purcell programme to milk it. St John’s, completely cleared of furniture, the orchestra luxuriously spaced in the wide-open nave, a very...
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