"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 […]
Mostly Mozart Festival Opens with Beethoven, Debussy, and Mozart Read Post »
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.
Jennifer Koh and Ensemble LPR at (le) Poisson Rouge Read Post »
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.
Nikolay Khozyainov Makes Carnegie Hall Debut Read Post »
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
Philadelphia Orchestra with Simon Rattle and Barbara Hannigan Read Post »
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
Evgeny Kissin Underwhelms at Carnegie Hall Read Post »
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
Vladimir Jurowski Leads the London Philharmonic Orchestra in Shostakovich and Beethoven Read Post »
"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
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Perform Beethoven at Carnegie Read Post »
by Michael Cirigliano II Very few musicologists have been able to promote their scholarship in such a way that alters the perspective of modern musical performance quite like Sir John
Wednesday night's concert by the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall was a microcosm of what the Mostly Mozart Festival has become under directors Jane Moss and Louis
Garrick Ohlsson with the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra Read Post »
