AVA's "Pelléas et Mélisande' (1st review)

Giving Pelléas its due

At last— a production of Pelléas et Mélisande that brings out all of the opera's subtlety and intimacy.

Steve Cohen

Feb 28, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Mendelssohn Club's "Philadelphia Voices'

Made in Philadelphia

In the process of showcasing works by five Philadelphia composers, the Mendelssohn Club and the Network for New Music also introduced a memorable way for choral groups to conclude their concerts.

Tom Purdom

Feb 28, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

New York Philharmonic with Joyce DiDonato (2nd review)

Bring on the Berlioz

Joyce DiDonato, with her pitch-perfect, carefully modulated voice, sounded like one of the instruments— a haunting effect that would not have been possible without the wonderful chemistry between soloist and orchestra.

Feb 28, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Philadelphia Orchestra's Vienna week

Battling over Beethoven's legacy

Spanish maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos returned to conduct two eminent Austrians with the Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart in a familiar serenade and the less-often played 25th Piano Concerto, and Brahms in his First Symphony, a work that both looks back to Beethoven and forward to modernism.

Robert Zaller

Feb 26, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

New York Philharmonic with Joyce DiDonato (1st review)

The New York difference

What's the difference between the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra? One has more women, the other has more black and brown faces, as well as a lusher string sound.

Steve Cohen

Feb 25, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

Opera Company's "Abduction From the Seraglio'

If you've seen one seraglio….

Mozart's Abduction From the Seraglio resonated at time when Europeans were obsessed with Middle East harems and slave traders. Robert Driver's attempt to set the opera in post-World War I Turkey is only partly successful. The Abduction From the Seraglio. Opera by Mozart; Robert B. Driver directed; Corrado Rovaris, conductor. Opera Company of Philadelphia production through February 26, 2012 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust St. (215) 732-8400 or www.operaphila.org.

Steve Cohen

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Buxtehude Consort plays Telemann and Handel

An 18th-Century treat for 21st-Century commoners

For us commoners whose living standards are slipping farther behind those of the super-rich, the Buxtehude Consort offered a rare chance to live like an 18th-Century aristocrat.

Tom Purdom

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read

Brentano Quartet's three tough pieces

The audience deserves a hand, too

The Brentano Quartet programmed three challenging pieces, in the process reminding the audience that artists deal with their inner conflicts not by resolving them, but by portraying them.

Tom Purdom

Feb 21, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read

Curtis Orchestra plays Bernstein and Prokofiev

The late great symphony (and on orchestra without pension issues)

The 1940s were the climactic period of the modern symphony, a fact not unrelated to the programmatic needs of World War II. Prokofiev's Fifth celebrated the end of the war, while Leonard Bernstein's Second explored postwar Angst. Both were vigorously performed by the Curtis Orchestra in its midwinter concert.

Robert Zaller

Feb 18, 2012 · Articles · 6 minute read

Wagner's “Götterdämmerung” at the Met

The letdown of the gods: Robert Lepage phones it in

What's the meaning of Wagner's Ring cycle— the destruction of civilization or the birth of a new world? Robert Lepage's tepid Götterdämmerung suggests a third possiblity: nothing much, really.

Steve Cohen

Feb 14, 2012 · Articles · 3 minute read