Michael Tumelty

Classical music writer

Latest articles from Michael Tumelty

The extraordinary musical world of Alexander Melnikov

THE last word of the columnar year in this space is devoted to a pianist whose name will probably be familiar to aficionados, might be unfamiliar to more general music lovers, but should be more widely known than I suspect it is. I’ve tested that out by dropping the name into myriad conversations, often en passant, with members of the musical commuter belt, many of whom seem to get to more concerts than I do, believe it or not. So who is this pianist – the latest young wunderkind, in need of championship?

Michael Tumelty: The sound of national identity in the music of Bela Bartok

TO some sensitive musical ears, the topic for today’s column might come as an unwelcome or even aggressive surprise. It’s the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok. Oh no, not another championship drive, I hear someone growl. No indeed; not this time. The subject has been pretty-much self-selecting from recent developments: I’ve been embroiled in listening to a number of starry new recordings of some of Bartok’s music, including the awesome Miraculous Mandarin, in both its full ballet and Suite formats, the late Third Piano Concerto and the chamber music trio, Contrasts, issued on different labels by the Philharmonia Orchestra with Esa-Pekka Salonen and by the London Symphony Orchestra with Valery Gergiev, all with various soloists. And the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, with conductor Rumon Gamba, recently gave a superlative account of Bartok’s Divertimento for strings.