Music
1944 results
Page 149
Network For New Music plays Michael Hersch (1st review)
Our new Prince of Darkness
Michael Hersch's A Forest of Attics is complex, ferocious and disturbingly dark— in short, very refreshing at a time when ebullient tonality is all the rage. Hersch writes with an emotional honesty that leaves him naked.
Articles
3 minute read
Tempesta di Mare's "Lamentations of Jeremiah'
Reflection yes, but hold the repentance
In the hands of Tempesta di Mare, an 18th-Century Holy Week lament becomes a warm and sensual Saturday night serenade.
Articles
4 minute read
Thomas's "Hamlet' at the Met
A happier Hamlet
Hamlet, the seldom-performed opera by the 19th-Century French composer Ambrose Thomas, departs significantly from Shakespeare. Yet it works as a drama.
Articles
3 minute read
Lessons from Tilson Thomas (2nd review)
‘Are you glad you came?â€(And other questions raised by Michael Tilson Thomas)
The recent orchestral triumphs of Vladimir Jurowski and Michael Tilson Thomas offer further proof that orchestral excellence by itself doesn't suffice; audiences yearn as well for a conductor with personality.
Articles
4 minute read
San Francisco Symphony plays Mahler's Second (1st review)
Gustav in his glory
Michael Tilson Thomas, visiting Philadelphia for the first time in six years with his San Francisco Symphony, performed a Mahler Second Symphony thoughtfully conceived and transparently executed. With Mahler, attention to pacing and detail is what pays off. It did here, in one of the season's most satisfying performances.
Articles
4 minute read
Jurowski conducts the Orchestra (3rd review)
Cellos on the left (and what they tell us about Jurowski)
Vladimir Jurowski's intensity made three of the most popular works in the repertoire sound fresh and immediate. His seating arrangements may seem like a minor matter, but they tell us something important about his attitude toward his craft.
Articles
4 minute read
Jurowski conducts the Orchestra (2nd review)
The Jurowski solution: Three parts mad ascetic, one part voluptuary
Vladimir Jurowski is a figure right out of the pages of Dostoevsky. What if he were leading the Philadelphia Orchestra regularly, instead of just once a year? The patrons would be lined up at the Kimmel's doors.
Articles
3 minute read
Chamber Ensemble's instrument mix
Mozart meets the roaring '20s
The Philadelphia Chamber Ensemble specializes in pieces that employ an unusual mix of instruments, but its musicians outdid themselves at their latest concert, with music that ranges from Mozart to ballets for dancing mummies and tangoing kitchenware.
Articles
3 minute read
Muti conducts Verdi's "Attila' at the Met
Muti to the rescue
Riccardo Muti is pumping new excitement into Attila, one of Verdi's weakest operas— which, like Muti himself, hasn't previously appeared at the Met.
Articles
4 minute read
Barber's "Antony and Cleopatra' by Curtis
Barber's Edsel bounces back
The Curtis Opera has revived the Edsel of American operas, Samuel Barber's ill-fated Antony and Cleopatra. It's a welcome opportunity to reconsider a work that, despite abiding flaws, has too much musical value to ignore.
Articles
7 minute read