MirÓ³ Quartet's "Necronomicon'

With John Zorn’s fantastic and magical Necronomicon Quartet, the pulp horror writer H.P. Lovecraft has once again risen from his grave and triumphed over his critics. Or has he?

Miró Quartet: Zorn, Necronomicon (Daniel Ching, Sandy Yamamoto, violins; John Largess, viola; Joshua Gindele, cello). Program also includes Mozart String Quartet in D Major K. 499, Brahms String Quartet

Tom Purdom

Nov 24, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Orchestra's postlude concert

I’ve never understood why many people think spontaneous outbursts are more artistically fulfilling than music played from carefully thought out scores. Does anybody think an actor could have come up with “To be or not to be” on the spur of the moment?

Network for New Music, Philadelphia Orchestra postlude: Mandat, Folk Songs (Paul Demers, clarinet); Sierra, Bongo-0 (Anthony Orlando, bongos). November 8, 2007 at Verizon Hall. (215) 848-

Tom Purdom

Nov 13, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

"Last Songs' by Lyric Fest

The Lyric Fest art song series devoted its latest program to the last songs of European and American composers. This was a great idea for a program, with one slight problem: A composer’s final melody isn’t necessarily his best one.

Lyric Fest: Last Songs. Songs by Beethoven, Purcell, Bernstein, Britten, Brahms, etc. David Adams, Suzanne DuPlantis, Randi Marrazzo, Stephen Powell, Katherine Pracht, Julian Rodescu, Barbara Shirvis, vocalists; Laura Ward, Harold

Tom Purdom

Nov 13, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestra 2001, Phila. Classical Symphony

Mozart comes in second to the flutist Valerie Coleman at an Orchestra 2001 concert. And how would Handel and Scarlatti react to high fives by performers?

Orchestra 2001: Bazza, Scherzo; Ravel, Le Tombeau de Couperin; Franck, Scherzo; Mozart, Divertimento in B-flat Major; Coleman, Concerto Afro-Cuban for Wind Quintet and Orchestra. James Freeman, conductor. November 3, 2007 at Port of History Museum, Penn’s Landing. (215) 92

Tom Purdom

Nov 06, 2007 · Articles · 5 minute read

Chamber Orchestra plays Beethoven et al.

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, under Ignat Solzhenitsyn, established a benchmark for the interpretation of Classical repertory that will be hard for anyone to beat, unless it’s Solzhenitsyn himself.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Schubert Fifth Symphony; Beethoven Piano Concerto No. 2 (Fabio Bidini, piano); Haydn Symphony No. 16 and 102. Ignat Solzhenitsyn conducting. October 28-29, 2007 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center, Broad and Spruce Sts. (215) 545-5451 or www.chamberorchestra.org.

Dan Coren

Oct 30, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Juilliard Quartet at the Perelman

The Juilliard Quartet has known better days. Its first of two Chamber Music Society concerts at the Perelman Theater this year, while serviceable enough in Haydn, fell short of the scope and intensity needed for Shostakovich’s Thirteenth Quartet and Beethoven’s First Rasumovsky.

Juilliard Quartet: Haydn E-Flat Quarter; Beethoven First Rasumovsky Quartet; Shostakovich Thirteenth Quartet. October 24, 2007 at Perelman Theater, Kimmel Cen

Robert Zaller

Oct 27, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

French music: Three concerts

Three musical organizations explore French music and French influence on American music from the Baroque to the present. How many American cities could team a fully professional chorus with a violist like Roberto Diaz and a percussionist like Don Liuzzi?

Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra: Ravel Mother Goose Suite; De Malaret Chants D’Auvergne (Leslie Johnson, soprano); Debussy Petite Suite; Ravel Bolero. Daniel Spalding,

Tom Purdom

Oct 27, 2007 · Articles · 5 minute read

Opera Company's "Rigoletto' (2nd review)

The Metropolitan Opera tenor Matthew Polenzani is the biggest name the Opera Company of Philadelphia has cast recently. But his interpretation of the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto is totally wrong for the character.

Rigoletto. Music by Giuseppe Verdi; directed by Robert Driver. Opera Company of Philadelphia through Oct. 17, 2007 at Academy of Music, Broad and Locust Sts. (215) 732-8400 or www.operaphilly.com

Steve Cohen

Oct 16, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Those slow introductions to symphonies

In Dan Coren’s third essay on sonata-form, he examines the way symphonies begin. Using the slow introduction of Mozart's 36th Symphony as a point of departure, he builds the first elements of a road map of a full-scale sonata-form movement.

Dan Coren

Oct 16, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestra's "Discovery' concert

How to reach a younger audience? The Orchestra is currently trying a policy that puts unfamiliar music in front of people who actually want to give it a try. At this concert, the crowd was definitely coffeehouse age.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Rihm, Verwandlung 2; Reinecke, Flute Concerto in D Major (Jeffrey Khaner, flute); Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. September 27, 2007 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or

Tom Purdom

Oct 13, 2007 · Articles · 5 minute read