Steve Smith

  • Discipline.

    "Discipline is never an end in itself, only a means to an end." — Robert Fripp (To be continued.)

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  • Divine madness.

    Fritz Wunderlich and Hubert Giesen perform Schumann's Dichterliebe. "Getting to Know Schumann Again, with Some Favorites"The New York Times, December 17, 2010 Here's another of those occasional roundups in which the classical-music critics of The New York Times pick their favorite recordings to represent this or that composer: here, Schumann, whose 200th birthday was celebrated…

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  • Life and times.

    Leon Fleisher: In Focus at the 92nd Street YThe New York Times, December 15, 2010 In preparing for this review, I read several sizable chunks from Leon Fleisher’s newly published memoir, My Nine Lives, co-written by my friend and colleague Anne Midgette. What little part I managed to read confirmed what I’d already suspected: the…

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  • Kindred spirits.

    Steven Isserlis and Jeremy Denk at the 92nd Street YThe New York Times, December 13, 2010 Needless to say, and unsurprisingly, this was terrific: a perfect example of two intelligent, inquisitive artists finding common ground in a recital that covered a lot of unfamiliar and worthwhile territory. Erin Baiano's terrific photograph brilliantly captures the energy…

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  • French knot.

    Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, December 11, 2010

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  • Here comes the flood.

    Photograph by Eric Calvi "Unleashing a Creative Deluge"The New York Times, December 7, 2010 A preview story regarding the composer, performer and director Mikel Rouse, whose latest stage creation, Gravity Radio, opens tonight at the BAM Harvey Theater with additional performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. For many folks, the Thursday performance will be the…

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  • Clarinet marmalade.

    The Risør Chamber Music Festival at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, December 6, 2010 As linked in this review, here’s a video of the dazzling clarinetist Martin Fröst playing his brother Göran Fröst’s arrangement of klezmer giant Giora Feidman’s “Let’s Be Happy” at the Verbier Festival.

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  • O come all ye faithful.

    Andrea Bocelli at Madison Square GardenThe New York Times, December 4, 2010 Andrea Bocelli presents "My Christmas" at the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ tonight, and there's no reason to think that things won't go just a bit more smoothly than they did on opening night: a Garden show less engaging than that of Justin…

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  • One by one.

    Darmstadt Essential Repertoire at Issue Project RoomThe New York Times, December 3, 2010 Night one of this vital young festival featured a sterling cast of local luminaries in Berio's first ten Sequenzas. I only wish I could have spilled more ink on the performers bunched together at the end, as every participant brought something unique…

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  • Higher and higher.

    CD REVIEW: 'Ombra Cara: Arias of George Frideric Handel'Bejun Mehta, countertenor; Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by René JacobsHarmonia Mundi HMC 902077; CDThe New York Times, November 28, 2010 Amazon / Amazon MP3 / Ariama / ArkivMusic / Barnes & Noble / eMusic / iTunes

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  • Institutionalized.

    Stockhausen and Boulez at Darmstadt in 1962. Photo from The Guardian. The Week Ahead: Nov. 28-Dec. 4The New York Times, November 28, 2010 As plugged in this week's Arts & Leisure, the fine folks who bring you Darmstadt "Classics of the Avant-Garde" events sporadically throughout the year will open their third-annual Darmstadt Essential Repertoire festival…

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  • Dearly beloved.

    The Manganiyar Seduction at the Rose TheaterThe New York Times, November 24, 2010 By a sizable factor, here was the White Light Festival offering that moved me most. (No, I did not see all of them.) That point is probably the reason why the way this review ended actually surprised me. I was also happy…

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  • I saw the light.

    "White Light: Is It Driven by the Soul or by Sales?"The New York Times, November 23, 2010 As I mentioned in the post-before-last, The New York Times asked its classical-music critics and reporter to discuss the pros and cons of the White Light Festival at Lincoln Center on the paper's Artsbeat blog about a week…

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  • Utopia banished.

    New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players: Utopia, Limited at Symphony SpaceThe New York Times, November 23, 2010

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  • Photograph: Chad Batka/The New York Times "White Light Festival: An Act of Testimony"The New York Times Artsbeat, November 19, 2010 Over the past few weeks I've reviewed several events in Lincoln Center's inaugural White Light Festival, a series devoted to exploring spirituality in music — or, more specifically, to promoting the notion that some kinds…

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  • As you like it.

    Bryn Terfel and Malcolm Martineau at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, November 19, 2010

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  • Temporary residence.

    Photograph: Tina Tahir/DG Anne-Sophie MutterThe illustrious German violin virtuoso is this season's artist-in-residence at the New York Philharmonic.Time Out New York, November 18-24, 2010

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  • I believe.

    Jonsi and Alex, Kjartan Sveinsson, the Hilliard Ensemble, the Latvian National Choir and the Wordless Music Orchestra at the Church of St. Paul the ApostleThe New York Times, November 17, 2010

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  • Spirit moves.

    Baltimore Symphony Orchestra "Too Hot to Handel" at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, November 16, 2010

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  • Invisible touch.

    Jan Garbarek and the Hilliard Ensemble at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola, and the Latvian National Choir at the Kaplan PenthouseThe New York Times, November 15, 2010 Two concerts, one saxophonist I'm glad to have heard live at last, two excellent vocal groups and one hidden hand behind it all. I profiled Manfred Eicher,…

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