Kaboom – Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic at the Southbank Centre: Brahms

We’ve just returned from one of the two London concerts of Sir Simon Rattle’s final tour as the Berlin Philharmonic’s chief conductor. The evening was designed to showcase his time and achievements with his orchestra of the past 16 years (he has taken over the London Symphony Orchestra earlier this year and kept two hats on until now). Known for his love of and expertise with modern pieces, Rattle started the evening with the UK premiere of a piece by the famous, only 44 years old, Munich-born (like me!!), Berlin-based, German composer-clarinettist Jörg Widmann: ‘Tanz auf dem Vulkan‘ (Dance on the volcano), which had been commissioned by the BPO to mark Sir Simon’s departure, and only had its world premiere in Berlin three days earlier. Over the years, the conductor and the composer had collaborated on various occasions. Widmann is known for his wit in how he composes, everything is […]

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Restaurant Lafleur, Frankfurt – Our Review

Recently, Berkeley Square Barbarian was treated to a phenomenal ten-course dinner with wine-pairing by two-starred restaurant Lafleur. To be precise, only Mr B was, because he’s currently on a consultancy assignment in Frankfurt for up to one year, while Ms B goes about her business in London, and we usually only see each other on the weekends. Ms B was not very pleased, as you can imagine, but tough luck. From 2018, Lafleur will be part of the exclusive association Les Grandes Tables Du Monde, which includes 172 of the world’s best restaurants. It is already part of the prestigious Relais & Chateaux group, which is comprised of some 500 luxury hotels and restaurants worldwide.   These two photos are (c) Lafleur, other photos (c) BSqB. At the moment, Lafleur boasts 18 of 20 possible points by Gault & Millau, more than any other restaurant in Hesse. It is one […]

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Pink Floyd Exhibition: Mortal Remains review

Let me state at the beginning: I’m not a Pink Floyd fan. If you are, then by all means go now and you’ll have a brilliant time. Should you go if you are not a fan? I guess, go ahead, if you think it might be for you and if you don’t mind the excessive admission price. The slogan of the exhibition is “Experience a spectacular and unparalleled audio-visual journey through Pink Floyd’s unique and extraordinary worlds, chronicling the music, design and staging of the band, from their debut in the 1960s through to the present day.” I’m not convinced that there is anything spectacular or unparalleled about the audio-visual journey. The exhibition uses more multi-media and innovative presentation methods than your average exhibition of – say – Rembrandt paintings, but in terms of innovation I wouldn’t give it more than 5 out of 10. Nearly everything that is cool […]

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Ed Harris in Buried Child – Don’t Miss This One

We’ve just come back from seeing 66-year old Hollywood veteran Ed Harris star in his West End debut in Buried Child at the Trafalgar Studios, and what a pleasure it was! Ed Harris’ intensity and aplomb on stage are riveting. It would have been worth the visit just for his acting alone, but as it happens all the other talented actors involved were giving their best too. Well, and can’t really go wrong with a Pulitzer-prize winning play like this that is about the breakdown of the American Dream and its values in rural 1970s America, when most family-run farms descended into poverty and despair due to economic slowdown and the consolidation of the market with a few hundred big players ruling the game. To add to it, it’s so cool that Ed is starring with his wife, Amy Madigan, as he did on various occasions before, both on stage […]

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