Author: Alfred Searls
Review: Violence and compassion – Shostakovich, Bach and Mendelssohn at The Bridgewater Hall
The Hallé Orchestra brought this season’s focus on Shostakovich to a fittingly dramatic climax with a performance of the great Soviet composer’s powerful eighth symphony at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall.
Read the full story..Book Review: Eastern Approaches by Fitzroy Maclean
Last year marked the centenary of the Russian Revolution. In the fifth of a series of articles for Northern Soul, Alfred Searls explores how 1917 – and the Soviet society which developed in its shadow – has been portrayed by writers since that momentous year of revolution.
Read the full story..Review: Shostakovich and the Triumph of Art, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Last week Sir Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra added another illustrious chapter to their long and successful history of performing the works of Dmitri Shostakovich.
Read the full story..Review: La Viña, Deansgate, Manchester
Firstly, full disclosure. I’m not one of life’s natural tapas fans.
Read the full story..Book Review: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
This year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. In the fourth of a series of articles for Northern Soul, Alfred Searls explores how 1917 – and the Soviet society which developed in its shadow – has been portrayed by writers since that momentous year of revolution.
Read the full story..Review: Uncle Vanya, HOME, Manchester
You dream of this kind of night at the theatre, the kind of night where the magical formula of script, staging and performance puts you through the emotional mangle before imprinting itself forever upon your memory.
Read the full story..Music instead of muddle: The Hallé and Shostakovich Symphony No.4, Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Somehow, the Hallé Orchestra’s Beyond the Score series slipped under my radar.
Read the full story..A change of season at the Hallé: Stravinsky’s Firebird at The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester
Manchester in October and memories of summer are fading fast.
Read the full story..Book Review: Darkness at Noon by Arthur Koestler
This year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. In the third of a series of articles for Northern Soul, Alfred Searls explores how 1917 – and the Soviet society which developed in its shadow – has been portrayed by writers since that momentous year of revolution.
Read the full story..Book Review: The White Guard by Mikhail Bulgakov
This year marks the centenary of the Russian Revolution. In the second of a series of articles for Northern Soul, Alfred Searls explores how 1917 – and the Soviet society which developed in its shadow – has been portrayed by writers since that momentous year of revolution.
Read the full story..Editor's Picks
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