Music
1944 results
Page 100
Philadelphia Orchestra’s week of premieres
New faces, new sounds (and even new words)
Three premieres unveiled this week by the Philadelphia Orchestra satisfied the human need for inner nourishment and rational thought. Too bad audiences couldn’t hear all three works together.
Articles
3 minute read
Dolce Suono’s 18th-Century entertainment
When musicians show their stuff
Dolce Suono combined a lesson in 18th-Century performance practice with a reminder that music ought to be a pleasure.
Articles
3 minute read
Ned Rorem’s 90th at Curtis
A composer who cares about words
Curtis Institute celebrated Ned Rorem’s 90th birthday with a magnum opus that summed up a career devoted to the art of adding music to well-chosen words.
Articles
3 minute read
The Met’s ‘The Nose’ in HD Live
The exuberant heyday of Russia’s avant-garde
From Gogol to Shostakovich to the South African director William Kentridge, the absurdist tale of a disembodied nose has survived as a refreshing reminder that laughter is the most effective antidote for government oppression, censorship and pomposity.
Articles
4 minute read
Piffaro open its ‘Tudor Season’
Across the English Channel
(and into the office)
Piffaro opened a season-long sojourn in the Tudor era with a demonstration that Henry VII may have been a better composer than a husband. Meanwhile, Piffaro’s back office provided hope of better days ahead for Philadelphia arts administration.
Articles
4 minute read
Emerson Quartet at the Perelman
Ambitious and uncompromising
The Emerson Quartet, with its fine new cellist, Paul Watkins, opened the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society’s season with an ambitious program, excellently performed.
Articles
7 minute read
Donizetti’s ‘Elixir of Love’ in Wilmington
An old-fashioned Elixir
Some directors distort Donizetti’s Elixir of Love. OperaDelaware’s decidedly old-fashioned approach was like a refreshing splash of water.
Articles
3 minute read
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One week, three concerts
If Mozart and Beethoven were here today….
Last week, I attended three concerts that offered a glimpse of the range of emotional, aesthetic and intellectual experiences that music offers to those of us who attend concerts as frequently as other people attend plays and movies.
Articles
6 minute read
Orchestra plays Shostakovich (1st review)
Fifty years of horror
If the Shostakovich Eleventh is performed with the right sensitivity and conviction, it’s no mere evocation of tragic events, but a lament for the human tragedy itself. Guest conductor Semyon Bychkov’s performance emphasized the tapestry-like elements of the score at the expense of some of the drama.
Articles
7 minute read
A composer’s secrets
Secrets of a great composer (who hasn't yet mastered the elevator speech)
When I recently dug out an anthem I’d written 32 years ago, I was struck by how good it was— and how bad it was, too. How could I salvage it? Just another day in the life of a composer.
Articles
6 minute read