Sonata-form (Part 10): Mozart's brilliant move

Inside Mozart's brain on the day he changed the music world

The development section of the finale of Mozart's “Jupiter” Symphony ends with a move as brilliant as a Bobby Fischer chess combination. In the tenth installment of his series on sonata-form, Dan Coren contemplates this passage.

Dan Coren

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 8 minute read

Astral's Saeka Matsuyama violin recital

Different times, different voices

A young violinist traverses 200 years of musical styles with the skill of a talented actor hopping through a series of costume changes and radically different characters.

Tom Purdom

Feb 07, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Live opera vs. high-definition screenings

Opera at the movie house: I love the Met, but....

Which is better: Live opera at the Met in New York, or a high-definition transmission at your local movie theater? Maybe that's the wrong question. Why not get the best of both worlds, as I do?

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

AVA's "La Fiamma' (2nd review)

The good old days of witchcraft

The Academy of Vocal Arts presented three performances of Respighi's 1934 opera, La fiamma, that were a treat. Whether this rarely heard opera deserves to be added to the standard repertoire is another question.

Steve Cohen

Feb 03, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

A few words about adventurous programming

So you want adventurous programming? (A reply to Beeri Moalem)

BSR contributor Beeri Moalem has issued a plea for more performances of new music. But the Western art music repertoire is essentially a huge library containing more than six centuries of music that no one can explore all of in a single lifetime. Two recent concerts offer cases in point.

Tom Purdom

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

AVA's "La fiamma' (1st review)

Oh, those sexually repressed women

Ottorino Respighi as an opera composer? Yes, he wrote ten of them, and La fiamma, in a 75th-anniversary concert revival by the Academy of Vocal Arts, showed itself worthy of a place on the international stage.

Robert Zaller

Jan 27, 2009 · Articles · 4 minute read

Christoph Eschenbach returns

Eschenbach returns— twice, with no hard feelings

Christoph Eschenbach, the former and (by some) lamented music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, returned to take over the city's symphonic January in concerts with the Orchestra and the Curtis Symphony. If he was trying to suggest what Philadelphia has lost with his departure, he mostly made his case.

Robert Zaller

Jan 24, 2009 · Articles · 7 minute read

Orchestra's biggest problem: Its board

The trouble with the Orchestra: It's the board, not the musicians

Why is the Philadelphia Orchestra stuck in its rut? One spoiler has been obvious over 30 years: a board that cares more about its sovereignty than about what will make the Orchestra the best in its field.

Nathan Sivin

Jan 18, 2009 · Articles · 3 minute read

"Sextet Spectacular' by 1807 & Friends

Reviewing the unreviewable

The latest 1807 & Friends program did everything a good chamber music session is supposed to do. So what else can you say?

Tom Purdom

Jan 18, 2009 · Articles · 2 minute read

Diaz, Denk et al at the Perelman

A classical music lover's plea: Can we please try the road less taken?

We all love Brahms, Mozart and Dvorak. Especially for these seasoned musicians, it's much easier to put together a Mozart Piano Quartet that they've all played before than to learn a contemporary piece. But seriously, there are other composers out there.

Be'eri Moalem

Jan 18, 2009 · Articles · 5 minute read