Music Reviews
Apr 11th 2015
Music Director Andris Nelsons’s Thursday [April 9, 2014] BSO program, comprising a wide range of musical styles and eras, induced an enthusiastic reception in the nearly full house. The program will be repeated tonight (Friday), Saturday and next Tuesday.
Apr 2nd 2015
When scheduling an orchestral program a year or more in advance, it is probably impossible to know how a brand new piece will match up with any other work, but Michael Gandofi’s “Ascending Light,” which received its world premiere last weekend from Boston Symphony, had a lot in common with Gusta
Mar 29th 2015
The Handel and Haydn Society celebrated its 200th anniversary with an intense and moving performance of Bach’s “St. Matthew Passion” before a full house at Symphony Hall (Boston) on Friday (March 27).
Mar 25th 2015
Billions of people enjoy music; many feel that they can’t live without it.
Why?
Mar 14th 2015
Alessandro Deljavan, the charismatic Italian pianist whose playing created a sensation at the 2013 Cliburn International Piano Competition, has produced his much-anticipated CD of Robert Schumann works. Distribution is scheduled for the end of this month.
Mar 2nd 2015
When the thunderous introduction to Grieg’s piano concerto erupted in Carnegie Hall on a spring evening in 1951, the audience was poised for a great musical experience.
Mar 2nd 2015
You might think that watching a Baroque opera with its endless da capo arias would be akin to watching paint dry, but Seattle Opera’s all-new production of Handel’s “Semele” tosses that notion out the window.
Feb 26th 2015
Frances Wilson: Who or what inspired you to take up the piano and make it your career?
Feb 19th 2015
As a long-time West Sider, I've happily traipsed through the bowels of Brooklyn for my last few posts in pursuit of the most happening events in classical music, theater and opera. But sometimes, as L. Frank Baum and Judy remind us, there is truly no place like home.
Feb 19th 2015
When American song writer Jerome Kern announced he was going to write a show based on Marco Polo, an enthusiastic reporter asked, “Mr. Kern, your new musical is based on an Italian who crossed the Alps and then the Leviathan desert, got to Mongolia, then China and finally returned home to Italy.
Feb 12th 2015
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The world premiere of Snowstorm, a 20-minute feast of orchestral colors and cl
Feb 12th 2015
On Friday night (February 6) at Keller Auditorium, Sandra Piques Eddy gave one of the best performances of Carmen that anyone can possibly imagine. She captivated Portland Opera’s audience with a tantalizing combination of emotions that made Carmen absolutely bewitching.
Feb 2nd 2015
Leonard Bernstein said, “The nineteenth century dies hard.” By that he meant his American concert-going audience would rather hear the lush, romantic music of over a hundred years ago —Tchaikovsky, Brahms and Verdi — than the angular, anguished music of the twentieth —Stravinsky, Schoenberg, S
Jan 25th 2015
I left jazz behind many years ago when I got hooked on Handel. The harmonies, the bounce and the melodies of the old German seemed to hold much more promise. I remember boasting to a friend, “I even have The Messiah in English.” I had a lot to learn.
Jan 20th 2015
As composer Morton Feldman enjoys a comeback in contemporary music circles today, a Swiss arts and design academy has published a new tribute to him along with a CD featuring an ethereal interpretation of Palais de Mari, Feldman’s last solo piano work.
Jan 17th 2015
French pianist Hélène Grimaud returned to Bordeaux Friday night (Jan.
Jan 17th 2015
One would think that a reliable warhorse like “Tosca” might be a dull affair because it is performed so often, but the most recent Seattle Opera production shows that Puccini’s masterpiece still can grip audiences in the gut.
Jan 15th 2015
After a very drawn out and fraught construction, the Philharmonie de Paris is finally open.
Jan 15th 2015
Even casual fans of classical music know of Ludwig van Beethoven’s deafness. But could his hearing loss actually have been his greatest advantage as a musician?
Maybe so, says Leif Ove Andsnes, the highly acclaimed Norwegian pianist touring th