Classical Music
Composer John Adams (b. 1947) was represented by two impressive works: “Chamber Symphony” (1992), and “Son of Chamber Symphony” (2007). For some reason the latter opened the concert and the former closed it, but no matter. By Caldwell Titcomb The Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) kicked off its season with a Jordan Hall program on…
Read MoreUltimately, Basil Twist’s Petrushka is a meditation on the tension between the animate and inanimate, a story that lets a puppet explain what it’s like to be a puppet, a fable that argues that to be alive is to recognize causality and suffering—and that the ability to suffer is paradoxically a precious gift. Basil Twist’s…
Read MoreThere is no doubt that Paul Jacobs, playing the whole recital from memory, is a phenomenal artist, as the advance word had indicated. By Caldwell Titcomb. For the last several years, there has been incredible buzz around the globe concerning a young organist named Paul Jacobs. As one who played a public pipe organ recital…
Read MoreMusic making of this caliber communicates—yet transcends—the tragic tone of these dramatic, religious texts. It brings both the words and the audience who hears them to life. By Susan Miron. Stile Antico, the youthful vocal superstars of Early Music, thrilled a packed St. Paul Church in Cambridge Friday evening. Having wowed audiences at Boston’s Early…
Read MoreAlfred Brendel was the first pianist to record all of Beethoven’s piano music in the 1960s and made many world tours with the 32 sonatas, which seemed like old, close friends. At times he would simply play a snippet here and there to illustrate a point, yet never long enough to satisfy this listener. I…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb. October 2: The Longwood Symphony Orchestra opens its 28th season, the sixth under conductor Jonathan McPhee, with a program of Sibelius and Delius. Award-winning Zina Schiff will be soloist in the demanding Sibelius Violin Concerto. Also on the program are Sibelius’s “Karelia Suite” and Delius’ lovely “Walk to the Paradise Garden.” At…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb September 1, 8, 15, 22, and 29: Free Wednesday afternoon concerts continue throughout the month. September 1: Pianist Benjamin Warsaw plays works by Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Liszt, and Warsaw himself. September 8: A further celebration of Schumann’s bicentenary brings a program of songs, with soprano Lisa Lynch, mezzo Carola Emrich-Fisher, tenor Jason…
Read MoreBy Helen Epstein After some peculiar programming last week, Tanglewood’s current weekend got off to a rousing start on Thursday night as Garrick Ohlsson gave a haunting, introspective, and idiosyncratic performance of Chopin. The program, emotion-packed and filled with delicacies as though the pianist could not bear to leave anything out, included nocturnes and mazurkas,…
Read MoreBy Helen Epstein This Tanglewood season, overshadowed by the absence of ailing maestros James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, and others who have canceled their appearances, has got me thinking about age and illness. There have been some compelling concerts these past two months, including Michael Tilson Thomas’s riveting Mahler renditions, but the absence of a strong…
Read MoreBy Caldwell Titcomb Harvard’s two main volunteer musical events of the summer took place on consecutive nights in Sanders Theatre. The Summer Chorus, buttressed by a full orchestra, held forth on Friday, July 30, and the Summer School Orchestra followed on Saturday, July 31. The former was of special significance since the conductor, Jameson Marvin…
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