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HomeClassical Music

Classical Music

Culture

Mighty Brahms Review: Portsmouth Guildhall

26th April 2023

S&C’s classical music commentator Paul Valentine shares his experience of an evening with Weber, Prokofiev and Brahms at Portsmouth Guildhall on 30th March 2023. When I saw the size of tonight’s orchestra and reminisced about [… read more ]

Culture

Controlled Screaming and Sublime Effort: Mahler’s 5th at Portsmouth Guildhall

27th October 2022

The finest concert Paul Valentine has attended to date is Walton’s Viola Concerto and Second Symphony performed by the LSO and conducted by the late André Previn. Walton was in attendance looking on from the [… read more ]

Culture

Review: Shostakovich’s Mighty Concerto

10th June 2022

S&C‘s classical music critic Paul Valentine was impressed by a recent performance of Scriabin, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) at Portsmouth Guildhall. This programme, directed by Alexander Shelley, establishes the BSO [… read more ]

Reviews

Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – Back to the Future

3rd May 2022

Like many other art forms, classical music was forced off the stage by Covid-19. Paul Valentine was all the more thrilled to be able to get out and see the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra’s performances of [… read more ]

Culture

Review: ‘Outstanding’ Czech Mates with the BSO

28th May 2019

Paul Valentine reviews the recent performance of Czech Mates by the BSO, conducted by Kiril Karabits, piano by Sunwook Kim, and Amyn Merchant, Leader. The performance comprised Suk Scherzo, Fantastique and Dvorak’s Piano Concerto and Symphony [… read more ]

Culture

Authority, Dexterity and Drama: Echoes of Home with the BSO

16th April 2019

Community reporter, Paul Valentine, reviews the recent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performance, Echoes of Home, conducted by Jamie Phillips and starring pianist Denis Kozhukhin. The concert comprised performances of Smetana – Vltava (Ma Vlast), Tchaikovsky – [… read more ]

Culture

Review: BSO Exceeds All Expectation

11th April 2019

Community reporter, Paul Valentine, reviews the recent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performance, Spirit of England, conducted by David Hill. I was looking forward to this concert, not so much for the programme – I lost touch with [… read more ]

Reviews

Review: BSO Strings Drive a Hairpin Bend at 100mph

8th March 2019

Community reporter, Paul Valentine, reviews the recent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performance, Superhuman Strauss, and is far from disappointed Well here we are at the Guildhall in Portsmouth again. Tonight, I am full of expectancy; there [… read more ]

Culture

Review: Oozing Mastery – ‘Natural Beauty’ with the BSO

13th February 2019

Community reporter, Paul Valentine, reviews the recent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performance, Natural Beauty, at Portsmouth Guildhall on 8th February 2019, conducted by Michael Seal, and violin by Ning Feng.  Full disclosure, nothing grabbed me about this programme. [… read more ]

Culture

Review: ‘Backward Glimpses’ with the BSO

6th February 2019

Community reporter, Paul Valentine, reviews the recent Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (BSO) performance, Backwards Glimpses, at Portsmouth Guildhall on 24th January 2019, conducted by Jacek Kaspszyk. I mused during this performance on the irony that is current concert-going, [… read more ]

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Latest News

News

Portsmouth UCU Branch Condemns Iran War and Calls for University Ethics Review

27th May 2026

The Portsmouth branch of the UCU (University and College Union) has passed a motion condemning the US and Israel’s illegal wars against Iran and Lebanon, and calling for an ethical review of the University of [… read more ]

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News

Planetbuilding Blues: Science Fiction Special

11th May 2026

Writer and planetary modeller David Angus reminisces about science fiction (SF) conventions over the years and his friendship with SF icon Brian Aldiss. During Easter I was in Birmingham Exhibition Centre at a science fiction convention. [… read more ]

News

The People’s Emergency Briefing: How to Combat Climate Change in Portsmouth

8th May 2026

Climate change is undeniably one of the biggest, if not the biggest, existential threat facing humanity. It is, however, quite difficult to grasp, and understand the impacts it currently has, and will have, not only [… read more ]

News

Planetbuilding Blues: Space and Time Projects

9th April 2026

  Writer and planetary modeller David Angus details his latest projects, including Time Travel (and Dinosaurs) in Gosport. I’ve worked a lot on Jupiter’s moons, as you do. Callisto has already been mentioned in earlier [… read more ]

News

Pompey Climate Choir Protests Outside Barclays Bank

27th March 2026

Portsmouth Climate Choir performed their song ‘We’re Gonna Switch Our Bank’ outside Barclays in Portsmouth in collaboration with PSC and Trans Pride Portsmouth. Viola Langley reports. Members of Portsmouth Climate Choir sang a rousing rendition [… read more ]

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