Music
1932 results
Page 139
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (2nd review)
The Blessed Virgin and her friends
Choral Arts Philadelphia and the Piffaro Renaissance band combined forces to produce a richly satisfying performance of Monteverdi's great Vespers for the Blessed Virgin to mark the quadricentennial anniversary of one of the seminal works of the Western art music tradition.
Articles
3 minute read
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (1st review)
What did Monteverdi want?
There's no right way to perform the Monteverdi Vespers, because the composer didn't specify which instruments played which passages. But Choral Arts and Piffaro collaborated on a performance that offered all the emotional pleasures we think of when we hear Monteverdi's name.
Articles
3 minute read
Whatever happened to symphonies? (A reply)
Symphonies are dying? Maybe. But what exactly is a symphony?
My BSR colleague Robert Zaller laments that the symphony as a musical form is vanishing after more than two centuries. Perhaps. But there really never was such a thing as “the Romantic version” of the Classical symphony, and certainly not in the sense that Zaller implies.
Verdi's "Don Carlo' at the Met (live)
Is there an Italian in the house?
The main flaw in the Met's outstanding new production of Don Carlo lies in the international nature of its cast. The use of a French-Canadian conductor, a half-French tenor and various Russian, British and American soloists may seem like welcome egalitarianism, but non-Italians have a rough time capturing the flavor of Verdi, that quintessential Italian nationalist.
Articles
6 minute read
Whatever happened to symphonies? (1st comment)
Another victim of our times: Whatever happened to the symphony?
The symphony— for more than 200 years the defining form of Western music— has all but vanished in the past 40. Concert audiences remain as addicted as ever to their Beethoven and Brahms, not to mention their Sibelius and Shostakovich. So why don't contemporary composers try to oblige them?
Articles
7 minute read
Garwood's "Scarlet Letter,' by AVA (2nd review)
Give her an A
Margaret Garwood has found in The Scarlet Letter a strong piece of musical theater. In some places she has actually improved Hawthorne's story telling. Whether the music will survive is another question.
Articles
5 minute read
Dirk Brossé's Chamber Orchestra debuts
Debut of a ‘deepie'
Can nice guys create art? Beneath his amiable surface, the Chamber Orchestra's new conductor reveals himself as a deadly serious musician.
Articles
5 minute read
“South Pacific” revival on tour (2nd comment)
Not your father's opera (or is it?)
Has opera been replaced by the Broadway musical? If so, is that good or bad? The recent revival of South Pacific demonstrated the pros as well as the cons of this brave new musical world.
Articles
3 minute read
“Coronation of Poppea” by Juilliard Opera
When the bad guys win
In Monteverdi's The Coronation of Poppea, the sheer force of erotic passion subverts all moral categories. Such wisdom renders this nearly-400-year-old opera more than modern today. The Juilliard Opera Theater's production, led by Harry Bicket, gave a fine account of the work.
Articles
5 minute read
Network for New Music's "Trade Winds From Tibet'
Himalayan Odyssey, Philadelphia style
Four young American composers based their pieces on recent fieldwork conducted in Tibet by Philadelphia composer Andrea Clearfield. This self-consciously styled genre is too often laden with clichés— happily not the case in this concert.
Articles
3 minute read