Music
1916 results
Page 102
Rattle and Lang Lang with the Orchestra
Lang Lang grows up
A varied program by Sir Simon Rattle included a most peculiar linking of the Sibelius Sixth and Seventh Symphonies. The histrionic Lang Lang, conversely, is beginning to appreciate that the music is more important than the musician.
Articles
5 minute read
Musicians from Marlboro at the Perelman
A feast before the famine
In a concert of highly contrasting works by Stravinsky, Britten and the young Johannes Brahms, the young Musicians from Marlboro played as if they'd been together for years. A happy audience dispersed to face, alas, Philadelphia's annual summer chamber music drought.
Articles
6 minute read
The fallacy of "The Voice'
Follow your passion, but what's your second choice?
My teenage daughter, infected by TV shows like “The Voice,” hopes to be a famous singer. Should I encourage her fantasy or squelch it?
Articles
4 minute read
What was Mahler thinking? (1st comment)
Can art foretell the future?
Mahler's First Symphony baffled its listeners, and he never explained it. But its meaning seemed clear to me, at least.
Articles
2 minute read
Lyric Fest's "Rosetta Stone'
Found in translation
Lyric Fest never does anything quite the way anyone else would do it. The group finished its season with another program on an odd theme: songs by composers who took their texts from foreign languages.
Articles
4 minute read
Verdi's "Masked Ball,' by AVA
Romance, fate, murder and a fresh crop of singers
A Masked Ball often gets lost in the crowd from Verdi's prolific middle period. The Academy of Vocal Arts production turned it into one of my most exciting evenings of music drama in recent years.
Articles
4 minute read
Rufus Wainwright at Verizon Hall
He did it his (relatively safe) way
Like many gay men, Rufus Wainwright relates to the struggles of Judy Garland and Maria Callas, but conveying angst isn't his strong suit.
Articles
3 minute read
Dolce Suono's "Debussy and The Baroque'
Time-tripping with Debussy
Leave it to Dolce Suono to find a connection between Claude Debussy (1862-1918) and Baroque composers: The man incorporated early music movements into his work, just as he absorbed the influence of jazz and Asian art forms.
Articles
4 minute read
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The great debate: Sackbut or trombone?
Were the Dark Ages really dark? Or: Do musical instruments improve?
Is the modern trombone a better instrument than its Renaissance ancestor, the sackbut? That's like asking, "is Mahler better than Monteverdi?"
Articles
4 minute read
Opera Philadelphia's "Magic Flute' (2nd review)
What should you expect from a dying composer?
If Mozart hadn't died two months after its 1791 premiere, his inconsistent and interminable Magic Flute might well have been remembered as a sideshow on the composer's path to greater achievements.
Articles
4 minute read