Tim Ashley
Tim Ashley is a Guardian classical and opera critic, though he's also keen on literature and philosophy so you might sometimes find him cross-referencing all three. His work has also appeared in Literary Review and Opera magazine and he is author of a biography of Richard Strauss
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4 out of 5 stars.
BBC Singers/LSO review – music, and words, of power as Rattle protests vandalism of UK’s musical life
4 out of 5 stars.Superbly executed Mahler was given fire by the addition of Poulenc’s work from the just saved BBC Singers – and a fierce attack on arts funding by the conductor -
4 out of 5 stars.
Blue review – racial violence, love and loss in a lyrical and angry work of unflinching power
4 out of 5 stars.Jeanine Tesori’s opera, with its tragically familiar narrative of police brutality, is compellingly told in Tinuke Craig’s nuanced production for English National Opera. -
4 out of 5 stars.Uncompromising performances of works by Hindemith, Prokofiev and Ustvolskaya glimmered with tension and beauty
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5 out of 5 stars.
St John Passion review – Polyphony and OAE deliver an outstanding, vivid rendition
5 out of 5 stars.An extraordinarily moving Bach passion contained intensity, radiance and, from Nick Pritchard, the finest live account of the Evangelist this critic has heard
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4 out of 5 stars.
The Dead City review – study of grief, guilt and obsession unsettles and enraptures
4 out of 5 stars.Annilese Miskimmon’s new production of Korngold’s hallucinatory 1920 work sacrifices some of its disturbing power but musically it is magnificently alert to the mood-shifts and beauty of its sound-world -
3 out of 5 stars.Bill Barclay’s play about the composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges shines a light on a long-neglected figure and his exquisite music
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3 out of 5 stars.With Charles Styles stepping in to sing the lead at short notice, the BBCSO’s world premiere of Iain Bell’s Wagnerian cantata had an extra edge
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4 out of 5 stars.
Gianni Schicchi review – Bryn Terfel on fine fraudulent form in Puccini’s dark comedy
4 out of 5 stars.Terfel leads a talented young cast and Domingo Hindoyan conducts the RLPO with wit and passion in a performance where no one puts a foot wrong
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4 out of 5 stars.
Ariadne auf Naxos review – Strauss’s harlequinade gets a dusting of silver-screen magic
4 out of 5 stars.Rodula Gaitanou’s relocation of Strauss’s opera to Rome’s Cinecittà studios brings many gains, plus there’s impeccable playing, lovely singing – Elizabeth Llewellyn’s Ariadne particularly – and even fireworks
Ariadne auf Naxos review – austere staging makes room for the riches of Strauss
4 out of 5 stars.