Music
1933 results
Page 157
Center City Opera's "ConNextions'
When good music happens to weak librettos
Two new operas are impressively played and sung in a double-bill by Center City Opera Theater. But The Always Present Present is plagued by awkward vocal writing, and Darkling suffers from a static story.
Articles
3 minute read
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.
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.
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.
Articles
5 minute read
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.
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?
Articles
6 minute read
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.
Articles
5 minute read
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.
Articles
9 minute read
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.
Articles
3 minute read
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.
Articles
5 minute read