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In performance: weekend roundup

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 06:31:52 -0500

In today's Washington Post: Leif Ove Andsnes's "Pictures Reframed," by Anne Midgette Muti coaxes pleasing glow from the New York Philharmonic, by Anne Midgette Berlioz is less than "fantastique" under Alsop's uninspired baton, by Joe Banno The musical art of noise, from Bang on a Can and Trio Mediaeval, by Joan Reinthaler Step aside, Borat: Kazakh players bring vibrant sound to the Kennedy Center, by Cecelia Porter If anyone has other views about any of these concerts, or reports on other weekend concerts worth noting, please post them in the comments section. (Coverage of Sunday's concerts will follow on Tuesday.)

Bleak "House" at the Met

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:00:07 -0500

Just before the opening of Janacek’s “From the House of the Dead” at the Metropolitan Opera, I got a message from someone who had attended the dress rehearsal. The writer wanted to know whether this was what Peter Gelb thought we needed today. I’m not sure what the writer of this message was taking exception to about this opera, which I saw earlier this week. I don’t see how it can be the production values of Patrice Chereau’s powerful staging (which originated at the Aix-en-Provence festival, and is available as a DVD with Pierre Boulez conducting). True, you could say that the director focused more on the mass of people on stage than on the individual characters, but I’d say this was a deliberate decision. The piece, after all, is set in a prison camp, and Chereau underlines the unalleviated bleakness and facelessness of the place, which reduces men to

In performance: Josh Bell at the NSO

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:38 -0500

In today's Washington Post: The NSO's excursions with Wolff and Bell, by Anne Midgette.

In performance: Zukerman Chamber Players

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:59:16 -0500

In the Washington Post (posted belatedly): Zukerman's ensemble tries to follow the leader, by Robert Battey.

The great orchestra debate

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:00:30 -0500

I, and evidently many other people, have been enjoying following the discussion about orchestras that developed in the wake of this post about Michael Kaiser. Since the post is about to scroll off the main page, I thought I’d summarize a few of the main points that emerged: call it a Cliff's Notes version for the casual reader. (read more after the jump)

NPR: trends of the decade

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:00:28 -0500

The other week my colleague Tom Huizenga, of National Public Radio, and I had a conversation about the trends in the classical music field over the last ten years as part of an ongoing NPR series on "The Decade in Music." Our discussion has now been posted: You can read the interview, and/or hear it, on the NPR website.

In performance: Choral Arts Society's "surround sound"

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:55:50 -0500

In today's Washington Post: For the Choral Arts Society, what goes around finally comes around, by Cecelia Porter.

Schonberg and Beethoven

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:30:20 -0500

Writing about the 32 Beethoven sonatas made me remember a loose thread I never picked up from an earlier post. This summer, I cited Harold Schonberg’s books as examples of popular writing about classical music, and compared them to the kind of thing we tend to get now. I didn’t actually mean to hold Schonberg up as a paragon; I was simply trying to say that I find his books more entertaining references than many of the popular works we have today. But after finishing rereading “The Great Pianists,” I'm not sure I'd even go that far; filled with information as it is, it ultimately lost me thanks to its incessant hyperbole. (read more after the jump)

Monday notes

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:34:55 -0500

Norman Lebrecht is hosting a discussion on his blog (and Twitter, and Facebook) about which now-living composers are most likely to be played in 50 years. The debate is intriguing though the parameters are unclear (played, for example, by whom? Orchestras are unlikely to play Steve Reich, because he hasn’t written much for orchestra). Anyway, voting is open on Lebrecht’s blog until 6 pm EST today. Have at it. On Saturday, the Minnesota Opera revived “Casanova’s Homecoming” by Dominick Argento, a composer once at the center of American opera, now less-often performed. Everybody likes the idea; the first actual review is a little equivocal. A postscript to the NEA Opera Honors: opera-lovers are encouraged to watch the tribute videos on the NEA’s website. Frank Corsaro, on his, makes a pithy observation about how singers with vocal problems are often actually having acting problems; it bore out something Gidon Saks said

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Mon, 16 Nov 2009 09:34:55 -0500

In performance: weekend roundup

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:00:34 -0500

A bonanza of classical music reviews in today's Washington Post: The NEA Opera Honors celebrate a cross-section of American opera, by Anne Midgette Lang Lang plays with the NSO, by Anne Midgette Kiri te Kanawa in recital (not farewell), by Joan Reinthaler The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra (scroll to the bottom of the page), by Mark J. Estren Haochen Zhang, Cliburn winner, at Wolf Trap Barns, by Mark J. Estren François-Frederic Guy begins his Beethoven sonata cycle (scroll to the bottom of the page), by Charles T. Downey

Intro to Beethoven

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:25 -0500

In today's Washington Post: An introductory user's guide to the Beethoven piano sonatas, by Anne Midgette. Note: a reader wrote in to observe that in my roster of Beethoven sonata cycles currently going on or scheduled in the DC area, I neglected to mention one I blogged about earlier: Yuliya Gorenman's ongoing cycle at American University (the next is in April). Gorenman will also play the "Waldstein" sonata in one of Rob Kapilow's lecture-demonstrations in the series "What Makes it Great?," presented by the Washington Performing Arts Society on January 12.

In performance: Murail in new Phillips series on composers

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 11:45:40 -0500

Web-only review: Exploring sound, exploring composers: Murail at the Phillips by Joan Reinthaler Tristan Murail is a composer who has spent a career exploring the physical components of sound waves and then using what he has learned to build music around custom-designed sounds. The Argento Chamber Ensemble, since 2000, has been committed to exploring and presenting new Western music. That the ensemble and Murail are ideally matched was apparent from the first notes of their program at the Phillips Collection on Thursday. (read more after the jump)

Hagen talks: Gidon Saks

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 17:50:04 -0500

Last Saturday night, Gidon Saks gave a phenomenal performance as Hagen in the Washington National Opera’s “Götterdämmerung.” On Sunday afternoon, he and the soprano who sang Brünnhilde, Irene Theorin, turned around and sang a matinee performance of “Ariadne auf Naxos.” It was a marathon for both of them -- especially for Theorin, following the most challenging role in the repertory with another one that isn’t exactly chopped liver. Yet “we were still so pumped and energized,” Saks chuckled, that “… we probably both sang our best shows Sunday afternoon.” “Götterdämmerung” as a warm-up: it’s not exactly what you expect. (read more after the jump)

National Opera Week

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:30:17 -0500

Today marks the start of the first National Opera Week. The NEA Opera Awards, which will be conferred in a ceremony tomorrow night, mark the start of a week of opera-related events at companies all around the country, from discounted tickets to open rehearsals to free concerts. A full listing, searchable by state, is available on Opera America’s website. Washington National Opera events include an open orchestra reading of “The Marriage of Figaro” at the Millennium Stage; a recital by the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artists; and an introduction to opera for kids; while the Washington Concert Opera is offering half-price tickets to its Sunday performance of "Faust." (See the above link for details.) Edited to add: The Washington Concert Opera wishes it to be known that regardless of what it says on the Opera America website, they are not, in fact, offering half-price tickets to "Faust." There are a few other

China's Karajan comes to Washington

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:35:24 -0500

On Saturday, Long Yu and the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra are coming to George Mason University on a U.S. tour that started when they played the closing concert at Carnegie Hall’s three-week celebration of China, the “Ancient Paths, Modern Voices” festival, on Tuesday night. Long Yu is one of the leading conductors in China, probably the best-connected (he has close ties to the daughter of Deng Xiaoping, whom he has known since childhood), and certainly one of the busiest: he is the artistic director and principal conductor of the China Philharmonic, which he founded in 2000; music director of the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra; artistic director of the Beijing Music Festival, which he co-founded in 1998; and as of this year, music director of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the oldest orchestra in China. He spoke on the phone last week from China shortly before leaving on the tour. (read more after the