Classical Music
My Nine Lives reads like a conversation with a man who has worked through more than his share of ups and downs in the world of classical music. The tone is understated and graceful; his narrative could easily have faltered in less skillful hands. Pianist Leon Fleisher aims for a general readership. It’s a very…
Pianist Jeremy Denk says, “Being a musician can be very solitary and a bit navel-gazing (like blogging). I’m not sure that blogging made me saner, but it surely released a valve somewhere.” By Susan Miron Pianist Jeremy Denk will be tackling one of the year’s most challenging programs this Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at MassArt…
Pianist Haochen Zhang’s Boston appearance proved that his Cliburn win was no accident. He may be only 20, but his playing was nearly flawless all evening, and his interpretations were those of a fully mature artist. By Caldwell Titcomb. Last year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition turned out to be a most remarkable event. The…
December classical music offerings range from a recital by 20-year-old Haochen Zhang, who won last year’s Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, to The MIT Chamber Music Society presentation of a free, two-piano concert, and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project taking on, without charge, an evening of music by three women composers. By Caldwell Titcomb. December…
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…
Ultimately, 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…
There 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…
Music 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…
Alfred 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…
By 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…
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