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[Posted this afternoon on The Volume.] You don’t need us to tell you how much the Bad Plus kicks ass, but we’re still amazed at the frequency with which this combo continues to top itself. TBP’s new disc, For All I Care, breaks ground in a couple of interesting ways. It’s the first time this…
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Most of my local culturati pals know that Elisabeth Vincentelli, my longtime colleague and aesthetic soulmate-cum-sparring partner at TONY (and the diligent blogger behind The Determined Dilettante), flew the coop some weeks ago in order to become the new chief theater critic at the New York Post. Strange and wonderful as that development was, another…
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Daniel Hope: "War and Pieces" at Alice Tully Hall and Donald Berman: "When Brahma Sleeps" at (Le) Poisson RougeThe New York Times, March 3, 2009
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Pinchas Zukerman and Marc Neikrug at the 92nd Street YThe New York Times, February 28, 2009
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Mark Padmore and Imogen Cooper at Alice Tully HallThe New York Times, February 27, 2009 JSU, the always admirable commentator at An Unamplifed Voice, was far less impressed with this concert than I was, raising pertinent points about both performers. His comments about the less attractive features of the new Tully Hall are right on…
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Jennifer Curtis at Weill Recital HallThe New York Times, February 24, 2009 Simply stated, this was one of the gutsiest, most individual recital programs I've ever had the privilege to attend. What made it exciting wasn't just the variety—though that was certainly part of the fun in this violinist's equivalent of hitting for the cycle—but…
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[Posted this afternoon on The Volume] Not many artists can claim as broad a CV as that of Nico Muhly, a young Juilliard-trained composer who has worked with Björk, Antony, Philip Glass, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and many, many others. If you plan to catch Grizzly Bear with the Brooklyn Philharmonic this Saturday, you'll be…
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American Composers Orchestra at Zankel HallThe New York Times, February 23, 2009 In an exciting new development, some of the ACO's recent concerts are now available for streaming at InstantEncore. You can already hear pieces by Anna Clyne, Jonathan Dawe, Charles Mason, Ned McGowan, Dan Trueman, Kamran Ince, Fred Ho, Gregory Spears, Keeril Makan, Clint…
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The New York Philharmonic at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, February 20, 2009 Honest, it's not my fault this time. This was published in Friday's New York Times, but didn't reach the paper's the website until a few moments ago; somehow it got lost in transit, apparently. I actually didn't know that it had run…
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Veronika Eberle and Oliver Schnyder at Weill Recital HallThe New York Times, February 17, 2009 An auspicious debut by a 20-year-old German violinist whose poise, insight and originality are already well beyond her years. Prior to each half of this concert, I was treated to an earful from two audience members seated directly behind me:…
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[Posted this afternoon on The Volume.] It would be foolish to imagine that any production of Il Trovatore could meet the insane demands Verdi wrote into it: The opera requires four of the world's greatest singers, a superlative chorus, an imaginative staging that allows for improbably fast changes of scene and—last but not least—a willful…
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While I'm on the subject of The Volume (which I'm not being paid extra to flog, I promise), I've just remembered that I uncorked a secret scoop over there last Thursday afternoon, regarding some very special unannounced guests who'll join the Brooklyn Philharmonic, Clogs and Bell Orchestre in "Shuffle Mode," a concert coming up on…
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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…
Night After Night 