Music
1933 results
Page 149
Shostakovich's "The Nose' at the Met
What The Nose knows (and William Kentridge doesn't)
After 80 years, Dmitri Shostakovich's early satirical opera, The Nose, is at last getting its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera. The cast and orchestra perform with élan, but William Kentridge's overbearing production threatens to hijack the proceedings.
Articles
5 minute read
Elaine Mack's "Black Classical Musicians'
Musicians who crossed the color line
Does classical music belong only to whites of European descent? Elaine Mack's interviews with black classical musicians, past and present, are at once inspiring and dismaying.
Articles
3 minute read
Choral Arts Society sings Castaldo's "Ancient Liturgy'
Beyond religion, beyond language
Can the rituals of an obsolete religion teach us anything about the relationship between music and the classic Western religious texts?
Articles
4 minute read
Solzhenitsyn in a chamber trio
Solzhenitsyn minus Orchestra
Playing piano in a trio (instead of conducting an orchestra), Ignat Solzhenitsyn's big revelation was the sensitivity and control he brings to chamber music.
Articles
1 minute read
Three Finns and Liszt, by the Orchestra
A Finn's fresh take on Sibelius
The Sibelius Second Symphony is almost the Philadelphia Orchestra's signature piece, but visiting conductor Osmo Vänskä brought a refreshing perspective. The program also included the local premiere of Kalevi Aho's busy Minea, and a fine-tooled performance of the Liszt Second Piano Concerto by young French soloist Jean-Frédéric Neuburger.
Articles
4 minute read
Jasmine Choi flute recital
Between East and West
The impressive young flutist Jasmine Choi explores the border between East and West and invades the empire of the Great Romantics.
Articles
4 minute read
Reich, Glass and Bryars at Annenberg
Steve Reich, forever young
The Zellerbach's dry acoustics and a battery of mirambas and xylophones almost swamped the Philadelphia Singers' delivery of Steve Reich's You Are. And I loved every minute of it.
Marcantonio Barone piano recital
Barone's cast of keyboard characters
Barone's exceptionally vivid and smart playing pulled a diverse program together, with music that sprang to life as if the composers were all vivacious and engaging guests at a really good party (even if one or two of them might have had too much to drink).
Articles
3 minute read
Lyric Fest's "Tchaikovsky: A Biography in Music'
He wrote songs, too
Lyric Fest again combines words and music to create a well-designed portrait of Tchaikovsky the man: a hard-working, troubled and not terribly likeable composer.
Articles
3 minute read
Orchestra's odd couple: Brahms and Shostakovich
What Dutoit doesn't understand about Shostakovich (or Brahms)
There's nothing wrong with hearing the Brahms Violin Concerto and Shostakovich's 11th Symphony, as in last week's Orchestra performances. They just don't inhabit the same musical universe.
Articles
6 minute read