Piffaro at the court of Ferrara

When violinists roamed the streets

Philadelphia's own Renaissance wind band joins forces with a traveling violin band to recreate the first outbursts of the modern multi-section orchestra.

Tom Purdom

Mar 15, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestra's two flute concertos

Inspiration sans charisma

With Charles Dutoit sidelined, the Orchestra's principal flutist, Jeffrey Khaner, provided the necessary star power by performing premieres of two flute concertos, one of them nearly 400 years old.

Dan Rottenberg

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 1 minute read

Chamber Orchestra: Solzhenitsyn returns (2nd review)

Solzhenitsyn's balanced return

Ignat Solzhenitsyn returned to his old stomping ground to lead the Chamber Orchestra through two well-balanced classics and a moving mid-century experiment with 12-tone music.

Tom Purdom

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

My personal stake in "Boris Godunov'

Boris Godunov and my ancestors

To you, Boris Godunov is a convoluted opera about a power struggle among Russian madmen a long time ago. To me, it holds a possible key to my family's history.

Steve Cohen

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 6 minute read

Solzhenitsyn plays Mozart for non-purists (1st review)

What did Mozart really want?

Are Mozart's scores sacrosanct as they are written? Or are they an invitation to play 18th-Century jazz? Ignat Solzhenitsyn, appearing as piano soloist and conductor laureate with the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, left no doubt about his answer.

Dan Coren

Mar 08, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

Pianist Andreas Haefliger at the Perelman

A thing for Wagner

The young German pianist Andreas Haefliger didn't seem fully engaged when he played Mozart and Liszt. Only when he got to Wagner did he seem to catch fire.

Steve Cohen

Mar 05, 2011 · Articles · 2 minute read

Jeremy Gill works at Settlement (2nd review)

Book of hours, book of life

Composer Jeremy Gill placed two of his own works side by side with pieces by two of the 20th Century's greatest composers and tapped into the deeper currents of the classical tradition.

Tom Purdom

Mar 01, 2011 · Articles · 4 minute read

Jeremy Gill works at Settlement (1st review)

Jeremy Gill's ancient sounds and rituals

Jeremy Gill's music is particularly concerned with sound qualities, to the extent that he'll move his performers to different parts of the hall during the course of a work. It seems to be a signature for this promising young composer.

Mar 01, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read

London Symphony plays Mahler's Seventh

Mahler's ugly duckling

Mahler's Seventh Symphony is one of the most rarely performed of his scores, in part because it lacks (or eschews) the overall dynamic structure of his more popular works. But it's a satisfying work in the right interpretive hands, and Valery Gergiev was at least intermittently successful in it with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Robert Zaller

Feb 26, 2011 · Articles · 5 minute read

Strauss's "Arabella' at AVA

Memo to Richard Strauss: Less is more

Richard Strauss wrote operas for big orchestras, but this intimate production on a tiny stage, with just a piano for accompaniment, enabled some of Arabella's long overlooked qualities to emerge.

Steve Cohen

Feb 23, 2011 · Articles · 3 minute read