This evening I attended a concert by Sequentia, directed by Benjamin Bagby, part of the Early Music Series presented by Miller Theater at Columbia University.  In search of the correct acoustics for presentations of medieval and renaissance vocal music, they present these concerts at the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square.

The title of tonight's concert was "Voices from the Island Sanctuary," referring to the Ile de la Cite in Paris … <Read More>

This is a bit off the beaten track…. I was very impressed by a new recording of songs for baritone and orchestra by Hans Pfitzner (1869-1949), enthusiastically sung on a new CPO release by Hans Christoph Begemann, with Otto Tausk conducting Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie.  First sentence from the booklet: "Hans Pfitzner's orchestral songs represent what is largely unexplored terrain and to date have only rarely been performed."

Well, where have these songs been hiding?  They are … <Read More>

The highlight of tonight's New York Philharmonic concert – at least for me – was the brilliant performance by Yefim Bronfman of Johannes Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83 – a real triumphant performance.  Bronfman has always impressed me in the past — his Peoples' Symphony Recital was a major highlight of the last concert season — and his recordings have provided great satisfaction, but I was truly overwhelmed with his performance tonight.  He … <Read More>

Here's something that threatens to become a "regular event" on the New York music scene.  Last January (2010), Jolle Greenleaf had an inspiration to gather a group of early music performers together to put on what would likely be the very first 400th anniversary commemorative performance of Vespro della Beata Vergine, the music for a Marian vespers service included by composer Claudio Monteverdi in his earliest published volume of sacred music, in 1610 in Venice.  … <Read More>

For some unaccountable reason, the New York Philharmonic had decided to devote the week between Christmas and New Year to a program heavy with "modern music" and premieres – works for soloists and orchestra by Paul Hindemith, Aaron Jay Kernis (a world premiere NYP commission) and Christopher Rouse (a NYC premiere), as well as a Vivaldi concerto for 4 violins (Op. 3, No. 10) and Ravel's Bolero to conclude.  Rather an odd program for this … <Read More>

This week the New York Philharmonic managed to be in two places at once.  That is, a chamber orchestra drawn from the full ensemble appeared at Avery Fisher Hall, collaborating with four vocal soloists, the New York Choral Artists, and guest conductor Bernard Labadie in what threatens to become an annual practice of a week of performances of George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah", while another group of ensembles drawn from the orchestra was busily rehearsing … <Read More>

This afternoon, Peoples' Symphony Concerts presented a program in their Festival Series at Town Hall in Times Square, with German cellist and pianist Freidrich Kleinhapl and Andreas Woyke.  I'd not heard of either before getting the publicity for this seasons' concerts, but since then have noticed some reviews of Kleinhapl's recording in the record magazines.  He has made a fair number of recordings for a young guy, and has won a fair number of awards, … <Read More>