The Boston Conservatory production of Mass was mostly frustrating, but Leonard Bernstein’s score came across very strongly.
Boston-Conservatory
Fuse Concert Review: “A Score To Settle” — A Monodrama About A Harpist and Her Seductive Slavedriver
Why, Rita Costanzi asks incredulously, do harpists, albeit occasionally, marry other harpists: “Does the word masochist mean anything to you?”
Concert Review: Joseph Silverstein and the Boston Conservatory Orchestra/Bruce Hangen at Sanders Theater
Now a remarkably energetic eighty, violinist Joseph Silverstein may have lost a bit of his former technical facilities, but his playing is marked by musical sensibilities that come from his many years of experience.
Concert Review: Two Memorable Productions of Charming Ravel Operas
Aside from the intrinsic entertainment value of these operas, they show Ravel in quite a different light than we are used to from his chamber and other orchestral music.
Music Review/Commentary: Gunther Schuller’s Gift of Giving – Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival III
Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival is inspiring a series of commentaries from Fuse Jazz Critic Steve Elman. Here is his third installment, which focuses on Gunther Schuller, who has inspired at least four generations of artists and revitalized a venerable institution of higher musical learning.
Music Review/Commentary: The Fringe in Context — Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival II
Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival is inspiring a series of critical and speculative commentaries from Fuse Jazz Critic Steve Elman. Here is the second, which focuses on The Fringe and some of the qualities that make the trio special in the world of jazz.
Music Review / Commentary: A Dispatch from the Border
Boston Conservatory’s New Music Festival is inspiring a series of critical and speculative commentaries from Fuse Jazz Critic Steve Elman. Here is the first.
Classical Music Interview: Franz Liszt’s 200th Birthday Bash
It’s the 200th birthday of Franz Liszt, and there are concerts, conferences, and projects devoted to the pianist/composer going on all over the world this year. Lisztomania at New England Conservatory is one of a number of parties in the Boston area. The Boston Conservatory is also puttin’ on the Liszt. By Bill Marx In […]
Concert Review: Beethoven’s Final Piano Sonatas
We often hear about how Brahms and Mahler lived under the shadow of Beethoven’s symphonies, but I suspect many other composers had the last three sonatas in their heads, keeping them both inspired and humble. Beethoven Opus 109. 110, 111. Performed by pianist Till Fellner. At Seully Hall, Boston Conservatory, October 12, 2010. By Susan […]
Coming Attractions in Theater: November 2009
By Bill Marx Somewhere an enterprising graduate student is working on a trenchant study of the correlation between holiday stage entertainment and the American economy. When things were looking bright and profitable the shows became cynical and comic, with mischievous elves placing whoopee cushions under our delusions of good cheer. Now that unemployment is high […]