Tanglewood 2013: Festival of Contemporary Music and Boston Symphony Orchestra
LENOX, MA — Last Saturday, I made the first of my two visits to Tanglewood over the weekend, arriving at Ozawa Hall just in time for the prelude concert prior to
beethoven
Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra with Paul Lewis
Continuing its survey of the music of Beethoven and Mozart, the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra performed a program last night that was both familiar and challenging, in all of the right
Mostly Mozart Festival Opens with Beethoven, Debussy, and Mozart
"This once-hopeless festival has become an unlikely model of change…It did not invent any of the principles that pulled them out of stagnation. They simply embraced them." — Anthony Tommasini, The
Jennifer Koh and Ensemble LPR at (le) Poisson Rouge
Last night, trailblazing violinist Jennifer Koh was joined by Ensemble LPR at (le) Poisson Rouge. They came together for a night of music by John Zorn, Charles Wuorinen, and Ludwig van Beethoven as a part of the LPR X5 festival. All of the pieces, ‘Passagen’ by Zorn, ‘Spin-5 for Violin and 18 Musicians’ by Wuorinen, and Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony brought a sense of wild abandon that perfectly complemented the youth and excitement of both Koh and Ensemble LPR.
Koh brought a fiery passion to John Zorn’s ‘Passagen’ for solo violin, which, like Wuorinen’s, was written for Ms. Koh. The piece is rife with rapid shifts from tight, intense tremolos and harsh pizzicato to tender ghostly harmonics. Sometimes, just sometimes, Koh coaxed out a single pure clean ethereal note or phrase that would sing out from the chaos before it was swallowed up again. The uneven rhythmic chords and pizzicato playing gave a distinctly Bartokian flavor, a flavor that was enhanced by Koh’s savage bowing.
Nikolay Khozyainov Makes Carnegie Hall Debut
by Melanie Wong Photo credit: Michelle V. Agins, The New York Times Earlier last month, Nikolay Khozyainov (Russian winner of the 2012 Dublin International Piano Competition) gave his Carnegie Hall debut.
Philadelphia Orchestra with Simon Rattle and Barbara Hannigan
For all my anticipation seeing Simon Rattle onstage with the Philadelphia Orchestra last night at Carnegie Hall, it was soprano Barbara Hannigan who unapologetically stole the show. Hannigan, who hails from
Evgeny Kissin Underwhelms at Carnegie Hall
by Melanie Wong Widely considered one of the best pianists of our generation, Evgeny Kissin is known for his lyrical and poetic musicality. Earlier this month, Kissin presented a chronological
Vladimir Jurowski Leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich and Beethoven
by Michael Cirigliano II It’s not too often that a concerto eclipses the impact of the symphony on an orchestral program—especially when that symphony is Beethoven’s immortal Fifth—but this was
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Perform Beethoven at Carnegie
"Harmony in personal or international relations can only exist by listening." Daniel Barenboim Does the world really need any more recordings of Beethoven's symphonies? Probably not. But, a cycle