In concert – Sarah Tandy @ Ronnie Scott’s, London

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Sarah Tandy (piano), Poppy Daniels (trumpet), Binker Golding (tenor saxophone), Jihad Darwish (bass), Jamie Murray (drums)

Ronnie Scott’s, London, 2 June 2026

by John Earls

“There’s nothing like breaking yourself in gently,” I whispered ironically to my companion as Sarah Tandy finished a blistering piano solo in the opening number of this show. It was clear from the outset that this was going to be something special.

I have seen Tandy play live quite a few times but only as part of saxophonist Binker Golding’s band (most recently at Ronnie Scott’s in April 2024 – you can read my review here). So it was great to see her performing her own compositions as band leader, and what a band they are. Golding on tenor saxophone, Jihad Darwish on bass, Jamie Murray on drums and Poppy Daniels who was magnificent on trumpet.

The concert comprised of two sets showcasing tunes from Tandy’s forthcoming album Delicious Capricious due for release in the autumn. After the breathtaking start, the first, mostly acoustic, set continued the pace, with the exception of a short meditative electric bass loop intro from Darwish. All the band got to shine with Golding and Daniels particularly in the spotlight giving bebop-ish flourishes. Murray let loose with some controlled drum thumping at the end of Bradbury Street, the only delve into Tandy’s excellent 2019 debut album Infection in the Sentence.

The second set was a more electric affair with Tandy focusing on electric piano and synthesiser but continuing to show marvellous keyboard virtuosity. Golding’s sax solos continued his earlier intensity but Daniels’ trumpet playing replaced the first set’s rapidity with a more reflective, melodic shaping that was no less enthralling.

Towards the end the band were joined for two numbers by MC Tee Peters whose rapping was a fast, fluent and well matched accompaniment to the music (although this Chelsea supporting reviewer couldn’t get on board with the pro-Arsenal sentiment of the second song).

On a day that had seen London smothered with heavy showers, the concert closed with a glorious version of On the Sunny Side of the Street kickstarted by Tandy before the band tore into it with joy and vigour concluding with Golding playing out a teasing finale. Among the many interpreters of this jazz standard was the great saxophonist Sonny Rollins who had died aged 95 the previous week and is one of artists in the framed gallery of pictures adorning the walls of Ronnie’s (a place he played). Whether intended as a tribute or not, it seemed a fitting end to the evening by this supremely talented younger generation of jazz musicians.

John Earls is Director of Research at Unite the Union and posts at @johnearls.bsky.social on Bluesky and @john_earls on X. You can subscribe (free) to his Hanging Out a Window Substack column here: https://johnearls.substack.com/

Published post no.2,909 – Saturday 6 June 2026

In concert – CBSO / Ilan Volkov: Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring & Stokowski transcriptions

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City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra / Ilan Volkov (above)

Frescobaldi arr Stokowski Gagliarda Seconda (1627/1934)
Purcell arr Stokowski Dido’s Lament (1689/1949)
Debussy arr Stokowski The Sunken Cathedral (1910/1930)
Mussorgsky arr Stokowski Boris Godunov: Coronation Scene (1874/1936)
J.S. Bach arr Stokowski Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV565 (c1708/1927)
Stravinsky The Rite of Spring (1911-13)

Symphony Hall, Birmingham
Wednesday 3 June 2026

Reviewed by Richard Whitehouse Picture (c) Hannah Blake-Fathers

He might not officially become Principal Guest Conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra until next season, but Ilan Volkov – a valued collaborator over the past two decades – gave notice of his intentions with this enterprising programme of Stokowski and Stravinsky.

Stokowski, that is, in his role as an arranger often interventionist, frequently provocative while always compelling. The first four of these pieces played without break – the hieratic poise of Frescobaldi’s Gagliarda Seconda, with its layering of wind and strings, leading into Purcell’s Dido’s Lament with its soulful interplay of solo and massed strings. This sequence moved up a gear with The Sunken Cathedral, here becoming the most evocative of Debussy’s Préludes as its washes of percussion prepared for an apparition of sonorous splendour before returning to the murky depths. Volkov will hopefully schedule Stokowski’s entire Symphonic Synthesis from Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov at a future concert though, for now, the Coronation Scene offered a tantalizing taster as its ringing ostinato patterns built toward a cinematic apotheosis.

It made sense to round off this sequence with Toccata and Fugue, most characteristic of the conductor’s numerous Bach reworkings and the most archetypal of all his arrangements. Its sonic opulence is balanced by an analytical acuity with the orchestral sections stratified so to bring out the motivic intricacy of its Toccata as well as the mounting impetus of its Fugue on the way to a glowering peroration. The CBSO gave its collective all in a piece that, whether or not this is actually by Bach, could not be an arrangement by anyone other than Stokowski.

Stokowski directed the American premiere of Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring in Philadelphia some 104 years ago and the questing zeal heard in his 1930 recording seemed no less evident in Volkov’s performance – assuredly no powerhouse conception and all the more impressive because of it. With bassoonist Nikolaj Henriques given his head in its plangent Introduction, the first part proceeded stealthily and its myriad shades of detail or expressive nuance given focus through the music’s unfolding at a consistent while unbroken pulse. Such as the innate violence in Ritual of Abduction and inexorable Ritual of the Rival Tribes were drawn into an indivisible whole whose accruing tension found release in a seismic Dance of the Earth.

If the second part emerged more episodically, this was owing more to its actual content than to any interpretative failing. Certainly the diaphanous haze of its Introduction segued with due seamlessness into Mystic Circles of the Young Girls of ominous import. Nor was there any wanton pictorialism in Ritual Action of the Ancestors, with the trenchancy at the start of the Sacrificial Dance a telling foil to the unbridled impetus which followed. Others may have drawn a purely visceral frenzy from this music, but relatively few can have channelled such impetus through to so conclusive and (strange as this sounds) satisfying a final gesture.

Impressive music-making, then, that augurs well for Volkov’s three concerts with the CBSO next season. Hopefully there will also be an opportunity for this conductor to expand on his extensive discography, as part of what should prove an arresting and productive relationship.

To read more about the CBSO’s 2025/26 season, visit the CBSO website. Click on the name to read more on conductor Ilan Volkov, while you can watch him in action in a number of videos below:

Jorge E Lopez | Symphony No.4

Ilan Volkov conducts works by Schreker and Strauss – YouTube

Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4 in F minor, Op. 36 – Brussels Philharmonic & Ilan Volkov – HD

Published post no.2,908 – Friday 5 June 2026

On Record – Flore Laurentienne: Volume III (Secret City)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

With Volume III, a trilogy begun seven years ago by Quebec composer Mathieu David Gagnon is complete. For Gagnon is the man behind the Flore Laurentienne project, looking to bring organs, analogue synthesizers and string ensembles together in a series of movements to fully appreciate the natural history of the Canadian province. As the press release states:

“The message, the shareable essence, on this third album by Flore Laurentienne, is light; it is the seed in the ground that becomes a plant and then a flower, blooming at its peak and then inevitably wilting so that the cycle can begin again; it is the quest for beauty in chaos, from which harmony is born. On Volume III, Mathieu David Gagnon and his Flore Laurentienne return to celebrate the magnificence of the river and its floral and sylvan surroundings.

This new milestone also marks the end of a trilogy that began in 2019 with Volume I – with the inherent and parallel aspiration of reaching a third volume in order to pay tribute to Volume 3, L’Infonie’s (a Quebec cult collective that blended jazz, prog, art music, and poetry) first album. The latter did not influence Flore Laurentienne’s music per se, but rather its conception of freedom in composition, combining classical and improvisation.

What’s the music like?

As fresh and as beautiful as the wide-open Canadian outdoors. Gagnon has an attractive style, and the interaction between acoustic and electronic is ideally judged.

Fleurs sets out the colourful and genial musical language, describing a flower’s life cycle with bright phrases that interact with instinct and skill. The musical patterns hark back to Baroque times but sound fresh while doing so, enhanced by the electronics bubbling up through the texture.

Régate is initially made of sterner stuff, with a granite outline laid by piano before being joined by warmer strings, which is then cleverly checked until becoming ever more thoughtful.

Le temps is a dreamy play led by the harp, before Fleuve VII begins with intimate piano thoughts before swelling into a joyous paean when joined by strings.

Gagnon saves the best until last, however, with the profile of Navigation VII resembling a bird on the wing, big sweeps of string sound flying overhead before diving beneath the listener. It is a thrilling listen, its mood maintained by the heady orchestral exchanges as (À travers les) Chablis reaches for the skies.

Does it all work?

Yes, and even more so when the first two volumes of the trilogy are included.

Is it recommended?

It is – and this listener, who began with the last part, will be purchasing the previous two. Flore Laurentienne stands for true appreciation of our surroundings, its music capable of transmitting the feeling and heady emotion of being at one with nature.

For fans of… Craig Armstrong, Olafur Arnalds, Max Richter, Sigur Ros

Listen / Buy

Published post no.2,907 – Thursday 4 June 2026

New music – TEED: Another Day (!K7)

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by Ben Hogwood, incorporating text from the press release

Following the announcement of his DJ-Kicks mix and the release of first offering Never Seen You Dance (DJ-Kicks Version)”, TEED today shares Another Day, the first original track to be unveiled from the forthcoming compilation, arriving 26th June via !K7. You can listen here:

One of five exclusive productions created for the project, Another Day provides one of the deeper, mysterious and introspectively soulful moments on the release. Built around warm melodies, understated rhythms and a quietly hypnotic atmosphere, the track reveals another side of a mix largely driven by uplifting house music and dancefloor energy.

Inspired by what Americans call “pre-gaming” before a night out, DJ-Kicks: TEED draws on more than a decade of life in Los Angeles. While the mix opens with big, vocal-led house music and the carefree energy of a night just beginning, Another Day arrives as the mood starts to shift, offering a more reflective moment amongst the momentum.

At the heart of the release are five TEED exclusives in total: two reworks, two original tracks and a cover of KC & The Sunshine Band’s Please Don’t Go. Alongside these sit carefully selected tracks and exclusives from artists including Joe Goddard, Austin Ato, Jacques Greene, Casino Times and Oscar Farrell, each helping shape the mix’s journey through house, deeper club sounds and increasingly atmospheric territory.

As the mix unfolds, the energy sources flicker, the synths grow heavier and the drums become crunchier. House gradually unfurls into more progressive and psychedelic spaces, with tracks such as Under the Metal pushing further into rolling, cerebral grooves and euphoric release. Another Day sits comfortably within this world, bridging the warmth of the opening stretch with the dreamier, more introspective moments that follow.

Arriving on 26 June via !K7, DJ-Kicks: TEED captures the excitement, possibility and transformation of a night out, moving seamlessly between moments of movement and reflection before drifting into a hazy, ambient close.

Published post no.2,906 – Wednesday 3 June 2026

New music – Gaspar Claus: Désir des astres (InFiné)

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by Ben Hogwood, incorporating text from the press release

Gaspar Claus has announced a new album, CELLS, featuring collaborations with Matt Elliott (The Third Eye Foundations) and producer Basile3. It will be released by InFiné on 25 September, but has been prefaced by two singles. The second of these, Désir des astres, is available now:

On the track, Gaspar said, “This theme comes from music written for a documentary. It ultimately wasn’t used: the cello often carries that melancholic sweetness so unique to it, and it weighed the film down a bit. So I dug it up, reworked it, and pushed it towards an almost epic boldness. It’s an ideal way to kick off the journey this album offers.”

The title of the piece also plays with the etymology of the word “désir”, which shares the same root as the word “sidéral”, placing the track in a resonance that is both intimate and cosmic.

It is a passionate piece, played with searching expression by the cellist – whose accents bring a humid, almost Mediterranean flavour to the track. I was reminded, in a good way, of the music of Spanish composer Joaquin Rodrigo.

Désir des astres follows the single release of the album’s opening track, World of Idols, in edit form:

CELLS will be released on Biovinyl LP and Digipack CD (all-paper packaging), with all details on the Bandcamp link below:

Published post no.2,905 – Tuesday 2 June 2026