I spent the past weekend at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival, on the shores of spectacular Otsego Lake north of Cooperstown, New York. I am gradually becoming a Glimmerglass addict. Two summers ago, my concert-going companion and I had conceived a musical crush on the brilliant young countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo, after hearing him sing Handel at NY City Opera and Ligeti with the NY Philharmonic, so we got tickets to hear him since a different … <Read More>
Music
Buying Classical Recordings in New York – the Shrinking of J&R
I know that the world is shifting towards electronic commerce for buying classical recordings — or, in some cases, just access to classical recordings for streaming — but I'm "old fashioned" – I like the physical product and higher fidelity of physical compact discs, and I like to be able to browse, look at album covers, compare available recordings, etc.. For which one really needs a physical store.
When I first moved to NYC in … <Read More>
Cultural Updates: Some Summer Films & Some Mostly-Mozart
While visiting Mom in Florida, I saw two of the current crop of summer movies: "Ted" and "Total Recall."
"Ted" is the saga of a teddy bear that comes to life and ultimately wreaks havoc in the life of the little boy to whom he is given as a Christmas present. It seems to have had a wildly popular few weeks upon its release, probably because people love the foul-mouthed, raunchy teddy bear, who gets … <Read More>
A Fascinating Read – The Story of Naxos, by Nicolas Soames
I've been a fan of the Naxos classical music label since early in its history, and I usually acquire many of their new releases each month at the one remaining decently-sized classical brick and mortar outlet in NYC, J&R on Park Row. When I saw a review of this new book in a British record magazine, I had to get my hands on it, and ordered from amazon.co.uk. (I don't know whether it is available from … <Read More>
The John Cage Song Books – A U.S. Premiere by “Alarm Will Sound”
Last night, the "hot" new music group "Alarm Will Sound" presented a staged version of selections from "Song Books" by John Cage, as part of the River-to-River Festival of arts events in lower Manhattan that has become a prominent early-summer feature of the New York City cultural scene in recent years. The program described this as a U.S. premiere. The production was co-commissioned by the Holland Festival and the River-to-River Festival, and took place at … <Read More>
The John Cage Song Books – A U.S. Premiere by “Alarm Will Sound”
Last night, the "hot" new music group "Alarm Will Sound" presented a staged version of selections from "Song Books" by John Cage, as part of the River-to-River Festival of arts events in lower Manhattan that has become a prominent early-summer feature of the New York City cultural scene in recent years. The program described this as a U.S. premiere. The production was co-commissioned by the Holland Festival and the River-to-River Festival, and took place at … <Read More>
The NY Philharmonic’s Little Tchaikovsky Festival
The New York Philharmonic titled the second program in their short Summertime Classics series "Tchaikovsky Festival." One program hardly constitutes a "festival," in my view, but the program turned out to be much more varied and exciting than one might have anticipated from a monolithic focus on one late-19th century Russian romantic composer, because it mixed seldom-played with more popular fare in excellent performances led by Bramwell Tovey, music director of the Vancouver Symphony who … <Read More>
The New York Philharmonic’s “Armory Show”
On June 29, 2012, I attended the first presentation of the New York Philharmonic's Armory Show! This was the 15,398th concert by the NYP, according to the program book. Alan Gilbert's desire to perform Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Gruppen" for Three Orchestras in an appropriate spacial setting was the motivation for this concert. Since "Gruppen" by itself is not long enough for a concert, he assembled a program with two other works calling for dispersion of orchestral forces … <Read More>
NY Philharmonic – Mozart “Sort of” Finale
Last night I attended the NY Philharmonic's 15,394th concert (!!), part of the final week of the 2011-12 subscription season. Rather than going out with a big bang calling for a huge orchestra or semi-staged opera as per the last few years, they went with a reduced orchestra in an all-Mozart evening, beginning with the 22nd Piano Concerto (Emanuel Ax), and concluding with the incomplete Mass in C MInor.
Both works come from what might … <Read More>
A Centennial Revival – Nielsen’s 3rd Symphony at the NY Philharmonic
This past week, the New York Philharmonic's subscription program included Beethoven's Coriolan Overture, Korngold's Violin Concerto, and Nielsen's Symphony #3, with music director Alan Gilbert on the podium and the excellent violinist Leonidas Kavakos as soloist in the concerto. The Philharmonic is in the midst of a multi-year project to perform and record all six Nielsen symphonies, but performing the 3rd this year was especially fitting, as it is the centennial of this work's premiere.… <Read More>