Music
1944 results
Page 140
Are symphonies really dying? (A response)
Are symphonies really dying? Count them for yourself. (I did.)
BSR contributor Robert Zaller laments the demise of the symphony in our times. Out of curiosity, I conducted a census of symphonic composers from Haydn to the present. The surprising numbers and ratios I found suggest almost the opposite conclusion.
Articles
5 minute read
La Scala's "Walkure' on the high-def big screen
La Scala and Die Walkure: Not quite ready for our close-up, Mr. DeMille
The good news: The miracle of high-definition TV saved me the hassle of a plane trip to La Scala's opening night. The bad news: This new production of Wagner's Die Walkure was the dullest in my memory, and La Scala made no concessions to the demands of large-screen cinema.
Articles
5 minute read
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (2nd review)
The Blessed Virgin and her friends
Choral Arts Philadelphia and the Piffaro Renaissance band combined forces to produce a richly satisfying performance of Monteverdi's great Vespers for the Blessed Virgin to mark the quadricentennial anniversary of one of the seminal works of the Western art music tradition.
Articles
3 minute read
Monteverdi Vespers by Choral Arts and Piffaro (1st review)
What did Monteverdi want?
There's no right way to perform the Monteverdi Vespers, because the composer didn't specify which instruments played which passages. But Choral Arts and Piffaro collaborated on a performance that offered all the emotional pleasures we think of when we hear Monteverdi's name.
Articles
3 minute read
Whatever happened to symphonies? (A reply)
Symphonies are dying? Maybe. But what exactly is a symphony?
My BSR colleague Robert Zaller laments that the symphony as a musical form is vanishing after more than two centuries. Perhaps. But there really never was such a thing as “the Romantic version” of the Classical symphony, and certainly not in the sense that Zaller implies.
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Verdi's "Don Carlo' at the Met (live)
Is there an Italian in the house?
The main flaw in the Met's outstanding new production of Don Carlo lies in the international nature of its cast. The use of a French-Canadian conductor, a half-French tenor and various Russian, British and American soloists may seem like welcome egalitarianism, but non-Italians have a rough time capturing the flavor of Verdi, that quintessential Italian nationalist.
Articles
6 minute read
Whatever happened to symphonies? (1st comment)
Another victim of our times: Whatever happened to the symphony?
The symphony— for more than 200 years the defining form of Western music— has all but vanished in the past 40. Concert audiences remain as addicted as ever to their Beethoven and Brahms, not to mention their Sibelius and Shostakovich. So why don't contemporary composers try to oblige them?
Articles
7 minute read
Garwood's "Scarlet Letter,' by AVA (2nd review)
Give her an A
Margaret Garwood has found in The Scarlet Letter a strong piece of musical theater. In some places she has actually improved Hawthorne's story telling. Whether the music will survive is another question.
Articles
5 minute read
Dirk Brossé's Chamber Orchestra debuts
Debut of a ‘deepie'
Can nice guys create art? Beneath his amiable surface, the Chamber Orchestra's new conductor reveals himself as a deadly serious musician.
Articles
5 minute read
“South Pacific” revival on tour (2nd comment)
Not your father's opera (or is it?)
Has opera been replaced by the Broadway musical? If so, is that good or bad? The recent revival of South Pacific demonstrated the pros as well as the cons of this brave new musical world.
Articles
3 minute read