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.”

Kile Smith

Nov 20, 2012 · 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.

Nov 18, 2012 · 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.

Robert Zaller

Nov 18, 2012 · 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.

Andrew Mangravite

Nov 17, 2012 · 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.

Tom Purdom

Nov 13, 2012 · 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.

Steve Cohen

Nov 13, 2012 · 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.

Steve Cohen

Nov 09, 2012 · 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.

Tom Purdom

Nov 06, 2012 · Articles · 4 minute read

Yannick's incomparable Brahms Fourth (3rd review)

Yannick: Surpassing Rattle, approaching Bernstein

Yannick Nézet-Séguin's interpretation of the Brahms Fourth Symphony was one of the most intense and profound performances of this work— or any work, for that matter— that I've ever witnessed.

Dan Coren

Nov 03, 2012 · Articles · 2 minute read

Yannick: The flair and (mostly) the subtlety (3rd review)

Yannick comes down to Earth

Yannick Nézet-Séguin may not be a messiah, but his first regular-season concerts indicate that he's the right person for the job at this turbulent moment in the Philadelphia Orchestra's history.

Tom Purdom

Oct 30, 2012 · Articles · 5 minute read