Steve Smith
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CD REVIEW: Ben Johnston: String Quartets 1, 5, 10Kepler QuartetNew World Records 80693-2; CD.The New York Times, February 20, 2011 Amazon / Ariama / ArkivMusic / Forced Exposure / H&B Recordings Direct A review of the second volume in an invaluable series devoted to the complete string quartets of Ben Johnston, an amazing, undersung…
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The New York Philharmonic with Branford Marsalis at Avery Fisher HallThe New York Times, February 19, 2011 I rarely receive feedback on my reviews from strangers, directly, but every time I do, I learn something valuable. After this review appeared in print this morning, I got an e-mail from someone who attended the matinee performance…
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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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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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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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Pierre-Laurent Aimard at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, December 11, 2010
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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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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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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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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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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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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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"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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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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Bryn Terfel and Malcolm Martineau at Carnegie HallThe New York Times, November 19, 2010
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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
Night After Night 