"The Rest is Noise,' by Alex Ross

Nobody writes more eloquently about music (especially contemporary music) than Alex Ross. He makes me feel that I’ve wasted the last 20 years obsessing about Mozart and Beethoven when I could have been listening to Morton Feldman and Steve Reich.

The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the 20th Century. By Alex Ross. 640 pages. Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2007. $30.00.

Dan Coren

Jun 08, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

The orchestra prima donna syndrome

Arguments about the ugliness and fragmentation of the Kimmel Center's interior beg the real question: Why is one of the world's great orchestras going to be led by a second-tier conductor in a third-rate hall?

Robert Zaller

May 25, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Eschenbach's mysterious failure

How did Christoph Eschenbach get such wonderful playing out of musicians who don’t like him very much? Call me a naïve idiot, but even after all the anecdotal evidence we’ve heard, Eschenbach’s failure in Philadelphia remains a mystery to me.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Schubert Eighth ("Unfinished") and Ninth ("Great") Symphonies. Christoph Eschenbach, conductor. May 15-17, 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or

Dan Coren

May 20, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Drugs, sex and 'Mozart in the Jungle'

Blair Tindall is bitter about the classical music industry in general and her own music career in particular. As a free-lance musician myself, I disagree. All one needs for a fulfilling career is some initiative and a real love of music.

Mozart in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music. By Blair Tindall. Atlantic Monthly Press, 2005. www.mozartinthejungle.com.

Be'eri Moalem

May 20, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read

Classical Symphony plays Bernstein et al

Karl Middleman, one of Philadelphia’s embattled conductor/organizers, demonstrates the individualistic variety he and his fellows add to our music season. If only they were as good at fund-raising as they are at programming.

Classical Symphony: Canning, Fantasy on a Hymn by Justin Morgan; Tate, Shakamaxon; Bernstein, Serenade After Plato’s Symposium. Hirono Oka, solo violin; Karl Middleman, conductor. May 9, 2008 at Trin

Tom Purdom

May 17, 2008 · Articles · 4 minute read

Chamber Music Society with Mitsuko Uchida

The great pianist Mitsuko Uchida and five younger colleagues end the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society season with a military recruiting piece and an apocalyptic response to World War II.

Philadelphia Chamber Music Society: Bartok, Contrasts (Soovin Kim, violin; Martin Frost, clarinet; Llyr Williams, piano); Messiaen, Quartet for the End of Time (Mitsuko Uchida, piano; Martin Frost, clarinet; Soovin Kim, violin; Christian Poltera, piano). May 15, 2008

Tom Purdom

May 17, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Orchestra's "Symphony of a Thousand' (2nd re

Mahler experimented with the big orchestra in the same way George Crumb experiments with prepared pianos. The Symphony of a Thousand may not be his most successful experiment, but it’s a beautiful, unique experience.

Philadelphia Orchestra: Mahler Symphony of a Thousand (Eighth Symphony in E-Flat major). May 1-3 2008 at Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center. (215) 893-1900 or www.philorch.org.

Tom Purdom

May 10, 2008 · Articles · 3 minute read

Chamber Orchestra: Mahler and Schoenberg (2nd review)

The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia performed Schoenberg’s highly forgettable foray into tonality, the Suite in G for Strings, but then acquitted itself with a radiant account of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in the Schoenberg-Riehn version— an hour of music-making to rank with the finest heard in the city this year.

Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia: Mahler, Das Lied von der Erde; Schoenberg, Suite in G. for Strings. Dirk Br

Robert Zaller

May 10, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

Sonata-form No. 7: Role of repetition

Should sonata-form expositions be repeated? Do you care? To the Classical masters, the question was critical. Repetition of the exposition was an occasion for dramatizing the power of the tonic key and their attempts to escape its gravitational pull. (Seventh in a series of essays about sonata-form.)

Dan Coren

May 10, 2008 · Articles · 6 minute read

AVA's "La Traviata'

Christofer Macatsoris understands the power of big emotions, and soprano Jan Cornelius sports a voice to match. It’s all maybe a bit too big for the tiny scale of the AVA’s cozy Warden Theater, where the first performances took place.

La Traviata. Opera by Giuseppe Verdi; Christofer Macatsoris, conductor; directed by Dorothy Danner. Academy of Vocal Arts production through May 17, 2008 at Central Bucks South H.S., Centennial Hall (Haverford College), Walter K. G

Jim Rutter

May 10, 2008 · Articles · 5 minute read