OCP's "Porgy and Bess' (first review)

This rare uncut version of the Gershwin classic cleans up the original show’s racial indignities and black vernacular. The swift dramatic pacing of the opening fails to pause for audience ovations. But everything falls into place once Gregg Baker and Angela Brown bring their marvelous voices together.

Porgy and Bess. Music by George Gershwin; libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin; directed by Walter Dallas. Presented by Opera Company of Philadelphia through Febr

Lewis Whittington

Feb 13, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

Solzhenitsyn in recital

The Russian-born pianist is more Teutonic than Russian in temperament, and the Hindemith Third Sonata was well suited to him. Solzhenitsyn is not a natural Schubertian, but he played the A major with a becoming gravity and many graceful touches.

Ignat Solzhenitsyn. Piano recital presented February 7, 2007 by Philadelphia Chamber Music Society at American Philosophical Society, 105 S. Fifth St. (215) 569-8080 or www.pc

Robert Zaller

Feb 10, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Dianne Reeves, Jason Moran at Verizon Hall

Reeves treated her audience to an hour of lucid, swinging jazz in the grand classical style. Jason Moran’s relentless piano runs were less successful.

Dianne Reeves, vocalist, and pianist Jason Moran. February 2, 2007 at Verizon Hall, Broad and Spruce. (215) 893-1999 or www.kimmelcenter.org.

Dan Coren

Feb 06, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

1807 & Friends play Brahms and Mozart

Dan Coren's mania for chamber music was more than satisfied by the Mozart and Brahms performed by 1807 & Friends. Our critic also believes he may have found the secret behind the mysteriously unchanging demographics of Philadelphia's chamber music audiences.

1807 & Friends: Brahms C minor Piano Quartet, Op. 60, and Mozart E-flat major Piano Quartet, K. 493. January 22, 2007 at Academy of Vocal Arts, 1920 Spruce St. w

Dan Coren

Jan 27, 2007 · Articles · 5 minute read

Kim and Denk play Charles Ives

Soovin Kim and Jeremy Denk have never sung hymns in church or attended a Protestant revival. Yet they played the sonatas with the understanding of people who carried 19th Century New England in their genes. Perhaps we American have more of a common culture than we sometimes think.

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society: Four violin sonatas by Charles Ives. Soovin Kim, violin; Jeremy Denk, piano. January 18, 2007 at Fleisher Art Memorial, 719 Catherine St. 215-569-8080 or

Tom Purdom

Jan 27, 2007 · Articles · 3 minute read

The Orchestra plays "Lady Macbeth'

Have you ever heard the Shostakovich opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District? Neither have I. But James Conlon’s performance of his suite from that work was one of the events of the season.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mozart Overture to The Impresario; Mozart Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major with Jonathan Bliss; Shostakovich/Conlon Suite from Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District. James Conlon conducting. January 11, 2007 at Verizon Hal

Tom Purdom

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

Conductors Marin Alsop and JoAnn Falletta

Instead of scouring the globe for a music director with a big reputation, the Philadelphia Orchestra might do well to look at promising young talent closer to home. Two such prospects recently passed this reviewer’s test with flying colors— both of them women.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Wagner Prelude to Act 1 of Tristan and Isolde; Harbison Concerto for Bass Viol and Orchestra with Harold Robinson; Copland Symphony No. 3. Marin Alsop conducting. January 9, 2

Tom Purdom

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 7 minute read

Eschenbach conducts Vivaldi and Bruckner

Vivaldi and Bruckner don’t jibe at all; they represent not only different styles but different sonic universes. This is why programming is best left to music directors. But if the Bruckner Ninth is the standard by which Eschenbach’s successors are measured, their work is cut out for them.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony. Christoph Eschenbach conducting. Jan. 17-20 at Verizon Hall. (215) 893-

Robert Zaller

Jan 20, 2007 · Articles · 4 minute read

The Orchestra's loopy substitution

The Philadelphia Orchestra is substituting Vivaldi’s inappropriately cheerful Four Seasons for Mahler’s neurotic Kindertotenlieder. What on earth were they thinking?

Dan Coren

Jan 16, 2007 · Articles · 1 minute read

Peter Gelb: Fresh Air At The Met

Peter Gelb, the Metropolitan Opera’s new general manager, is bound and determined to reach new audiences. Which explains how I wound up, on a recent Saturday afternoon, watching a live telecast of a Met performance of The Magic Flute at a movie theater in Neshaminy Mall. On the basis of this evidence, Gelb is off to an impressive start.

Diana Burgwyn

Jan 05, 2007 · Articles · 9 minute read