Mark Elder

Meyerbeer: Le prophète review – wild operatic oddity is given a breathless ride

The composer’s 1849 work is one of extremes, but Mark Elder, the LSO and a top cast give as good as they get in this live recording

Fiona Maddocks

31, Aug, 2024 @11:00 AM

The week in classical: BBC Proms week one review – hallelujahs all round

First Night fireworks with Elim Chan and co, a triumphant farewell from Mark Elder, and a ravishing love triangle kicked off a re-energised Proms

Stephen Pritchard

27, Jul, 2024 @12:00 PM

Prom 4: Hallé/Elder review – a farewell eclipsed by the quality of the music-making

Mark Elder has led the Hallé for 24 years, championing the company’s choirs, in great voice here in a striking James MacMillan work, and bringing cerebral discipline and striking emotional truth to Mahler’s Fifth Symphony

Martin Kettle

22, Jul, 2024 @2:29 PM

We’re already paying tax on our state pensions | Brief letters

Brief letters: Rishi Sunak’s pension pledge | Poor immigration logic | Sir Mark Elder’s last hurrah | Reviving Cockney rhyming slang

11, Jun, 2024 @4:55 PM

A fitting finale for Sir Mark Elder with the Hallé Orchestra | Brief letters

Brief letters: Final bow and bouquet | The Rakes: gentlemen players | Scottish football | Sunak’s plight | Farage’s backup plan

04, Jun, 2024 @5:14 PM

Elgar: Symphonies Nos 1 & 2 album review – warmth, refinement and conviction

These performances are as fine as any currently available on disc, and a testament to the deep musical relationship that Mark Elder’s has built over 24 years as director of the Hallé

Andrew Clements

23, May, 2024 @2:00 PM

Simon Boccanegra review – vast forces bring Verdi’s ‘fiasco’ to vivid life

Opera Rara joined with the Hallé under Sir Mark Elder for this semi-staged performance of the original version of Verdi’s opera

Sarah Noble

19, Apr, 2024 @10:31 AM

La Forza del Destino review – superb voices and slick dance routines for Loy’s reimagined Verdi

Christoph Loy’s 2019 staging staging feels more cogent in this, its first revival, and baritone Etienne Dupuis is stunning as Carlo

Tim Ashley

20, Sep, 2023 @12:54 PM

The week in classical: Itch; Semele; Prom 16: Hallé/Elder – review

Jonathan Dove transforms Simon Mayo’s ripping yarn into an exhilarating instant classic; it’s Thebes by way of Port Talbot in Adele Thomas’s Glyndebourne debut; and all hail the Hallé

Stephen Pritchard

29, Jul, 2023 @11:30 AM

Prom 16: Hallé/Elder review – orchestra and conductor seem to think, breathe and feel as one

Mark Elder marshals huge forces to bring compelling depths and power to Rachmaninov’s The Bells and Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony in an unmissable performance

Flora Willson

27, Jul, 2023 @11:40 AM

The week in classical: Abomination: A DUP Opera; Aida – review

Its Belfast premiere positively crackled, and four years on, Conor Mitchell’s lush, searing satire on DUP homophobia continues to provoke