Music
1939 results
Page 112
Orchestra plays "Alexander Nevsky' (3rd review)
What Prokofiev wanted
The wedding of a live orchestra with the film of Alexander Nevsky may be fascinating, but Prokofiev's music really conveys more power when it stands alone, uninterrupted by long pauses for dialogue, sound effects and silent scenes.
Articles
4 minute read
Spanish songs by Lyric Fest (1st review)
Three unpredictable women
Lyric Fest transformed a concert of Spanish and Latin American songs into a complex historical trip through two continents.
Articles
4 minute read
How composers really work
Advice for aspiring composers: Stop all that strolling, and just stand still
Many people think composers do our composing on long walks. But to get any real work done, you've got to attach your posterior to a chair and have music paper in front of you. Consider how I composed “Softly and Tenderly.”
Articles
5 minute read
Orchestra plays "Alexander Nevsky' (2nd review)
Don't mess with Mother Russia
This dusty old black-and-white film still packs a wallop, and the Philadelphia Orchestra deserves high praise for staging an exceptionally well prepared and powerfully executed production of this masterful mélange of art forms.
Articles
3 minute read
Takács Quartet at the Perelman
More questions than answers
The Takács Quartet brought three substantial works to its recital in the Chamber Music Society series, with Marc-André Hamelin joining it for one. The haunting Britten Third Quartet was the program's centerpiece.
Articles
6 minute read
Orchestra plays "Alexander Nevsky' (1st review)
More than meets the ear, less than meets the eye
I've always loved Prokofiev's Alexander Nevsky cantata, drawn from Sergei Eisenstein's 1938 film after the fact. But hearing the music performed with this lugubrious film reminded me that propaganda rarely succeeds as drama.
Articles
3 minute read
Chamber music: Philadelphia's secret weapon
When musicians go moonlighting
What do Philadelphia Orchestra musicians do in their free time? Many of them provide a rich talent pool for the city's diverse chamber music groups.
Articles
5 minute read
"The Tempest' at the Met in New York
Good golly, Miss Meredith (and other lines that don't rhyme)
Shakespeare's psychologically-driven The Tempest isn't an ideal choice for the musical stage to begin with. The creators of this opera compounded the problem with a libretto that's an insult to the Bard's poetic language.
Articles
4 minute read
AVA's "Barber of Seville' (1st review)
A bouncy and brassy Barber
Rossini's major operatic innovation was the expansion of brass in his orchestra and the writing of loud orchestral sections in his stage works. Those notions were honored in the Academy of Vocal Arts' season opener, an extroverted performance of Rossini's Barber of Seville.
Articles
3 minute read
Chamber Orchestra's new face
Bach's secret formula
Some artists appeal to the mind, others to the heart— and then there's Bach. The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia made that distinction clear in the perceptive hands of guest violinist/conductor Adele Anthony.
Articles
4 minute read