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Dan Coren
The year of the French:
Best of the 2007-08 season
DAN COREN
If your tastes are eclectic and adventurous, and if you have a special liking for the French avant-garde of the 20th Century, this is your year. Between now and next May, Philadelphia audiences have the opportunity to hear:
Even the Philadelphia Orchestra is joining in with new music by Jennifer Higdon; a performance featuring pianist Emanuel Ax of Bartok’s Sonata for Piano and Percussion in an orchestral arrangement; and a work that, for me, never loses its modernity and vitality, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Sept. 20-25).
Even if your tastes are more traditional, you’re in luck.
Whew. That’s more than I can keep up with. And I’m only touching the highlights. My apologies to 1807 and Friends and many other groups who deserve to be mentioned.
To read a response, click here.
For Tom Purdom's choices for 2007-08, click here.
Best of the 2007-08 season
DAN COREN
If your tastes are eclectic and adventurous, and if you have a special liking for the French avant-garde of the 20th Century, this is your year. Between now and next May, Philadelphia audiences have the opportunity to hear:
- Premieres by George Crumb, Olivier Messiaen’s Oiseaux Exotiques, and Pierre Boulez’s super-serial blockbuster, Le Marteau San Maitre, all performed by Orchestra 2001.
- Terry Riley in person, performing his own newly commissioned work with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia (Mar. 30-31). Another Chamber Orchestra concert includes works by Boulez’s contemporary, Ianis Xenakis as well as Alban Berg, and Bartok, and yet another features the wonderful pianist Jeremy Denk playing yet more Berg.
- Pianist Mitsuko Uchida, under the aegis of the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, performing yet more Messiaen, his great masterpiece Quartet For The End of Time (May 15).
Even the Philadelphia Orchestra is joining in with new music by Jennifer Higdon; a performance featuring pianist Emanuel Ax of Bartok’s Sonata for Piano and Percussion in an orchestral arrangement; and a work that, for me, never loses its modernity and vitality, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring (Sept. 20-25).
Even if your tastes are more traditional, you’re in luck.
- At the Orchestra, pianist Helene Grimaud will perform Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto (Dec. 6).
- The truly extraordinary pianist Simone Dinnerstein, an Astral Artistic Services alumna, will also perform the Emperor with the Delaware Symphony (Feb. 8 and 9). Dinnerstein’s performance in Philadelphia a few years ago of Bach’s Goldberg Variations paired with the Webern Piano Variations was one of the greatest piano recitals I’ve ever heard.
- Again at the Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach is conducting the Schubert Eighth and Ninth Symphonies on a single concert (May 15-17).
- The Philadelphia Chamber Music Society yet again is offering the sort of rich and varied repertory it has presented for years.
- The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia is mixing two Mozart symphonies in with Ravel and Stravinsky, and its season concludes in Classical heaven with the Mozart 21st Concerto and Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony (May 4-5).
Whew. That’s more than I can keep up with. And I’m only touching the highlights. My apologies to 1807 and Friends and many other groups who deserve to be mentioned.
To read a response, click here.
For Tom Purdom's choices for 2007-08, click here.
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