Steve Smith
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[Posted this morning on The Volume. Not so much here for knowledgeable opera buffs — this was meant more for general readers. But there are two links worth anyone's time: one takes you to the hysterical climax of A Night at the Opera, the other to Matthew Gurewitsch's sharp article on Il Trovatore in yesterday's…
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Stephen Hough at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 14, 2009 Did you know that English pianist, painter, poet and almost-priest Stephen Hough has been blogging for London newspaper The Telegraph since December? Jeremy Denk most likely did; for the rest of us, there's no time like the present to catch up.
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The Emerson String Quartet at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 11. 2009 As promised earlier this evening. Much, much earlier.
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André Emelianoff at Merkin Concert HallThe New York Times, February 7, 2009 Here's an example of a really juicy concert program, thoughtfully conceived and played with real spirit, that got bogged down by extramusical gremlins. With luck, the glitches that afflicted the first half of this program will have been banished when Mr. Emelianoff continues…
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Anne Akiko Meyers at (Le) Poisson RougeThe New York Times, February 5, 2009 There's a lot more to successfully bringing classical music into a club setting than just showing up and getting down to work. Here's someone who got everything right: not just what she chose to play, but how she presented the music, and…
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Jubilee Trio at Bargemusic, and the Brooklyn Philharmonic at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Felix Hell at the Church of the TransfigurationThe New York Times, February 3, 2009 Three distinguished visitors from Boston mix art songs, spirituals and maverick piano works; Michael Christie conducts innovative Latin American works, with decidedly mixed results; and a…
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The header above isn’t a reference to my sniffy review of a famous string quartet in an even more famous concert hall, which ran in The New York Times today. That’ll be posted later tonight. Probably. No, what I’m doing here is publicizing an irony: Your humble host, who can barely manage to update his…
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"Mendelssohn Favorites Offer Precision, Grace and Grit"The New York Times, January 30, 2009. Yes, I'm playing catch-up again. sigh. As a reader, I always enjoyed those occasions when a composer's birthday, or some other celebration, brought one of those record-roundup features in The New York Times, for which each of the critics listed his or…
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The Manhattan School of Music Chamber Sinfonia at Zankel HallThe New York Times, January 28, 2009 A new work by MSM president Robert Sirota receives its world premiere on a program featuring music by Grieg and Richard Strauss, the latter featuring more than a few superstar ringers on stage.
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The Miró Quartet at Weill Recital HallThe New York Times, January 27, 2009 This bright young string quartet shoots off sparks in native-born works by Antonin Dvořák, Charles Ives and Kevin Puts.
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The New York Philharmonic at Avery Fisher HallThe New York Times, January 24, 2009 Riccardo Muti conducts strangely pedestrian Haydn (with a little help from Thomas Quasthoff) and positively radiant Brahms.
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Robert Ashley's Celestial Excursions at La MaMa E.T.C. AnnexThe New York Times, January 20, 2009 A review from Ashley's recent triple bill in the East Village. I never managed to catch Dust, the only one of the three I'd not seen previously, nor did I see the revised version of what's now called Made Out…
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CD review: LIGETI: ‘Lux Aeterna,’ ‘Drei Phantasien nach Friedrich Hölderlin,’ Sonata for Solo Viola; HEPPENER: ‘Im Gestein’Susanne van Els, violist; musikFabrik; Cappella Amsterdam, conducted by Daniel Reuss.Harmonia Mundi France HMC 901985; CD.The New York Times, January 18, 2009(ArkivMusic, Barnes & Noble) A review of a wonderful recent release that might easily have crept up to…
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(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog) We've been enjoying the sounds we've been hearing from Victrola, a newish all-female "bandsemble" led by classically trained composer and groove-oriented keyboardist Missy Mazzoli. Turns out, however, that a certain multinational media conglomerate we won't specify felt the group's name infringed upon that of one of its long…
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Among the casualties of the dearth of original blog posts that resulted from my job change last fall was my playlists, those recaps of the more meaningful things to have gone through my head from post to post. Honestly, a lot of what I've been listening to in recent months isn't altogether pertinent for listing:…
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"Mahler for the Children of AIDS" at Carnegie Hall and The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center at the Rose StudioThe New York Times, January 17, 2009 Two reviews from this week's activities. The first covers a charity performance of Mahler's Symphony No. 3, conducted by George Mathew and performed by principal players and other…
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(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog) Sobering news arrives from Steven Joerg of Brooklyn ecstatic-jazz indie label AUM Fidelity: Saxophonist and bandleader David S. Ware, whose titanic sound and spiritualized compositions have long made him a pillar of the free-jazz/Vision Festival crowd, is seriously ill and in dire need of a kidney transplant. According…
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Olli Mustonen at the Metropolitan Museum of ArtThe New York Times, January 14, 2009 The provocative Finnish pianist plays Tchaikovsky's The Seasons and his own Jehkin Iivana, and collaborates with members of the New York Philharmonic in Shostakovich's Piano Quintet.
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(Posted this afternoon on the TONY Blog) Despite earlier denials in the press, former Miller Theatre impresario George Steel has just this afternoon accepted the position of former Dallas Opera general director. In a move that in the end surprised no one, Steel is on his way back to New York City, where he is…
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Yesterday's New York Philharmonic press conference was webcast live for invited international e-attendees. "Smile when you look back," orchestra president Zarin Mehta urged those present on the Avery Fisher Hall stage as he pointed out the cameras behind them, "and don't do anything you don't need to do." But don't take my word for it…
Night After Night 