Music
1926 results
Page 121
Orchestra 2001 at Trinity Center
What inspires composers?
Orchestra 2001 ranged across the spectrum of modern musical styles, with the usual hits and misses, depending on your personal biases.
Articles
4 minute read
Peter Serkin at Curtis
A family affair at Curtis
Beethoven's sublime Diabelli Variations, one of the summits of Western art, capped Peter Serkin's benefit recital at the Curtis Institute, his alma mater. With family members both in attendance and on the program, it was in every sense a successful homecoming.
Articles
3 minute read
Nézet-Séguin conducts Mahler (2nd review)
Yannick's first big test
Yannick Nézet-Séguin returned to his new Orchestra on a flying visit but with a weighty load: Mahler's titanic Sixth Symphony, which shared the program with Bach's Fifth Brandenburg Concerto. The lightly scored Bach was a bit swamped in Verizon Hall's cavernous spaces, but Mahler's mightiest score amply filled it in a disciplined and expressive reading.
Articles
4 minute read
Nézet-Séguin contemplates Mahler (1st review)
Yannick channels Stokowski (not to mention Mahler)
Yannick Nézet-Séguin sees next year's Philadelphia orchestra season as a homage to Stokowski's centennial here. But Yannick may be even gutsier than Stokowski in some respects. Consider his exuberant embrace of a Mahler work that Stokie avoided.
Articles
5 minute read
Curtis 20/21's All-Stravinsky concert
Learning from a master
Stravinsky throws an extraordinarily diverse range of influences— from early jazz to church hymns to folk music— into a breathtakingly concise package. I can't recall hearing it performed with as much pungent clarity and disciplined vigor as this.
Articles
3 minute read
Met's "Enchanted Island' in HD-Live
Too much of a good thing, in your face
Big screen opera can be wonderful when its close-ups convey subtle gestures and notes. But as Enchanted Island demonstrates, the same proximity can make you gag when the characters are hamming it up to excess.
Articles
5 minute read
Blomstedt conducts Beethoven
What we hear vs. what Beethoven heard
Should Beethoven be performed in the grand Romantic style or in the tighter manner of Beethoven's own times? Herbert Blomstedt managed to straddle both sides of that fence.
Articles
4 minute read
Why Stokowski left the Orchestra
Not so happy ending (c. 1940): Why Stokowski left the Orchestra
The great conductor Leopold Stokowski arrived in Philadelphia 100 years ago. But when exactly did he leave, and why? The facts are complicated, but they tell us something about the eternal dance between temperamental artists and nervous orchestra boards.
Articles
3 minute read
Ticciati conducts Beethoven and Sibelius (2nd review)
Youth will be served
In his debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, conductor Robin Ticciati made a strong impression with the Sibelius Second Symphony. The Orchestra can play this work in its sleep, but it was wide-awake for this occasion.
Articles
5 minute read
Ticciati conducts Beethoven and Sibelius (1st review)
Sibelius meets Generation Z
It's refreshing to see a conductor breaking with tradition. But did Robin Ticciati's renderings make Beethoven and Sibelius sound better? Not this time.
Articles
2 minute read