Music

1932 results
Page 157
When Simone Dinnerstein reinvents Bach, who needs an orchestra?

Concerts to watch in 2009-10

Music without orchestras: My picks for the coming season

Dan Coren, liberated from his obligations to orchestral music for the first time in years, previews a sumptuous season of chamber music, jazz, and contemporary music.
Dan Coren

Dan Coren

Articles 6 minute read
Haley (left) with Elvis Presley: Farewell, Davy Crockett.

The dawn of rock 'n' roll (a memoir)

The great adolescent upheaval: A rock 'n' roll memoir (c.1955)

When my adolescent buddies and I embraced rock ‘n' roll in the mid-‘50s, our parents assumed it would fade with other teenage fads. But we knew instinctively that we were on the winning side of a revolution.
Bob Levin

Bob Levin

Articles 6 minute read
Dunphy: Bush's errand boy as a martyr?

Melissa Dunphy's "Gonzales Cantata'

Sympathy for Alberto Gonzales

Melissa Dunphy's Gonzales Cantata uses actual transcripts of a 2007 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to transform the tedious machinations of politics into a brilliant work of art. The only thing missing, alas, is a point. Alberto Gonzales facing Arlen Specter isn't exactly Christ confronting Pontius Pilate.
Jim Rutter

Jim Rutter

Articles 5 minute read
Horowitz: Superficial, or phenomenal?

Beethoven's "Appassionata' turning point

What Horowitz taught me about Beethoven

I used to sneer when that superficial crowd-pleaser Horowitz sat down to play Beethoven. But getting reacquainted with the “Appassionata” through Horowitz recordings lately made me think more about the circumstances that brought Beethoven's groundbreaking sonata into being.
Dan Coren

Dan Coren

Articles 7 minute read
How can I get anyone to buy this CD?

The classical musician's greatest phobia

Self-promotion? By a classical pianist? Oh, the horror!

Juilliard taught me almost everything I needed to know about playing the piano, and almost nothing about promoting myself. Why are we classical musicians so hesitant about tooting our own horns?
Maria Thompson Corley

Maria Thompson Corley

Articles 6 minute read
Mena: A difficult challenge, well met.

The Orchestra's final Mann week

Discovered at the Mann: One knockout conductor

The Orchestra's summer series at the Mann may be strapped for cash, but the last three concerts introduced a conductor who deserves an unqualified rave, showcased a rising young soprano, and added another chapter to Lang Lang's artistic development.
Tom Purdom

Tom Purdom

Articles 5 minute read
Finale at Bayreuth, 2007: Does history repeat itself?

Wagner's "Ring' cycle (Part 6: "Götterdämmerung&apos

GÓ¶tterdÓ¤mmerung: Nietzsche knows best

Götterdämmerung, the last of Wagner's four-part Ring operas, ends with Valhalla in flames, the destruction of the gods, and Wotan a disillusioned pessimist, much like Wagner himself. Is this the death of religion? The triumph of science or nature? Wagner lets us take our pick.
Steve Cohen

Steve Cohen

Articles 9 minute read

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The Mann experience: A newcomer's perspective

Welcome to the Mann: A few questions from a first-timer

Thursday's showcase for pianists Herbie Hancock and Lang Lang with the Philadelphia Orchestra left many patrons swooning with delight. But it raised a few questions in the mind of a first-time visitor to the Mann who sat in the cheap seats.
Matthew Jakubowski

Matthew Jakubowski

Articles 3 minute read
Ninomiya: Digging out Faure's hidden emotions. (Photo: Steve Sherman.)

Lenape Chamber Ensemble

To venture inside the composer's head

Is a “pure” rendering of the composer's intent indeed ever possible? A mid-summer concert of Beethoven, Faure and Prokofiev by the Lenape Chamber Ensemble conjured thoughts about each composer's circumstances at the moment of creation.
Victor L. Schermer

Victor L. Schermer

Articles 5 minute read
Stravinsky: 'Awesome example.'

Composing vs. writing; Moalem vs. Coren (contd.)

A further exchange: The young composer and the older critic

Continuing their debate about composing music and writing about it, Beeri Moalem and Dan Coren find some common ground, and also some flaws in BSR as an appropriate vehicle.

Be'eri Moalem

Articles 4 minute read