unexpected spring
warmth flooded the day mocking
my wintertime mood
16 January 2011
15 January 2011
14 January 2011
13 January 2011
12 January 2011
11 January 2011
good news from the archives
The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra is marking its thirtieth anniversary by launching its own record label, Philharmonia Baroque Productions, and they are very wisely leading off with a treasure from their archives: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, who had a long association with the group, recorded live in 1995 singing Les Nuits d'Ete and Handel arias. The release date is March 8, and you don't need me to tell you that you have to buy this. You can get it on iTunes or Amazon (though it doesn't seem to be listed yet).
They will be releasing two more discs this year as well: live recordings of the Haydn 88, 101, and 104 (coming this April, in conjunction with their performances of Haydn's Creation) and a studio recording of instrumental Vivaldi (coming next September as they open their 31st season).
Here are the details for the Hunt Lieberson disc:
Berlioz, Les Nuits d’été
Handel, “Figlio non è…L’angue offeso mai riposa” from Giulio Cesare
Handel, “Ben a raggion…Vieni, o figlio e mi consola” from Ottone
Handel, “Mirami altero in volto” from Arianna
Handel, “La giustizia ha già sull’arco” from Giulio Cesare
Handel, “Ombra cara di mia sposa” from Radamisto
Handel, “Ogni vento, che al porto lo spinga” from Agrippina
Handel, Encore: “Qual nave smarrita” from Radamisto
They will be releasing two more discs this year as well: live recordings of the Haydn 88, 101, and 104 (coming this April, in conjunction with their performances of Haydn's Creation) and a studio recording of instrumental Vivaldi (coming next September as they open their 31st season).
Here are the details for the Hunt Lieberson disc:
Berlioz, Les Nuits d’été
Handel, “Figlio non è…L’angue offeso mai riposa” from Giulio Cesare
Handel, “Ben a raggion…Vieni, o figlio e mi consola” from Ottone
Handel, “Mirami altero in volto” from Arianna
Handel, “La giustizia ha già sull’arco” from Giulio Cesare
Handel, “Ombra cara di mia sposa” from Radamisto
Handel, “Ogni vento, che al porto lo spinga” from Agrippina
Handel, Encore: “Qual nave smarrita” from Radamisto
10 January 2011
Composer Portraits and Self-Portraits
Some recent and noteworthy additions to the concert calendar:
On Monday March 14 at Hertz Hall in Berkeley, Cal Performances presents a Composer Portrait of Pierre Boulez, featuring violinist Graeme Jennings and the Eco Ensemble performing Anthèmes 2 and Derive 2. When this concert was announced as a late addition to the schedule a few weeks ago, I called as soon as I could, and was told that mine was the first ticket sold. Good for me!
And San Francisco Performances added two concerts that feature not only the music of living composers, but the composers themselves:
On Saturday, April 30, at 3:00 in the Novellus Theater at the Yerba Buena Center, Philip Glass will play his Etudes and other works for solo piano (he's in town for a revival of Dance, his 1979 collaboration with Lucinda Childs and Sol LeWitt).
And on Sunday, May 15, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, Magnus Lindberg on piano will be joined by violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Anssi Karttunen in music by Stravinsky and Lindberg himself.
On Monday March 14 at Hertz Hall in Berkeley, Cal Performances presents a Composer Portrait of Pierre Boulez, featuring violinist Graeme Jennings and the Eco Ensemble performing Anthèmes 2 and Derive 2. When this concert was announced as a late addition to the schedule a few weeks ago, I called as soon as I could, and was told that mine was the first ticket sold. Good for me!
And San Francisco Performances added two concerts that feature not only the music of living composers, but the composers themselves:
On Saturday, April 30, at 3:00 in the Novellus Theater at the Yerba Buena Center, Philip Glass will play his Etudes and other works for solo piano (he's in town for a revival of Dance, his 1979 collaboration with Lucinda Childs and Sol LeWitt).
And on Sunday, May 15, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Concert Hall, Magnus Lindberg on piano will be joined by violinist Jennifer Koh and cellist Anssi Karttunen in music by Stravinsky and Lindberg himself.
09 January 2011
Naumberg winner Soyeon Lee
Early this evening I went to San Francisco Performances’ annual Naumburg Competition Winner concert, featuring pianist Soyeon Lee, a petite young woman who can raise mighty music. I very much enjoyed her crystalline and vigorous playing, and even more than that I enjoyed her adventurous and interesting program, made up of a number of brief but intense pieces. Even the longer numbers – Bach’s French Suite No. 5 in G Major, which started off the concert, and Schumann’s Carnaval, which made up the second half – are collections of short contrasting pieces.
Far from seeming disjointed, though, there are similarities in mood and intention among these short pieces (as in the fragments in The Wasteland) that give an underlying cohesion to the whole: most of these pieces look both backwards and forwards, uniting tradition and innovation: Bach writes new dances in traditional forms, Shostakovich (the Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in D-flat Major, Opus 87 No 15) imitates Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; Ligeti writes an etude (but for virtuoso – Etude No. 6, Autumn in Warsaw) and his student Unsuk Chin writes another etude, also for virtuoso (Etude no. 6, Grains); and Ravel (the first half ended with La valse) deconstructs the waltz. And as for Schumann, the December 23 issue of the New York Review of Books has a fascinating article by Charles Rosen about Schumann’s innovative piano music (unfortunately I can't link to it since it's subscribers only but it's worth seeking out if you're interested in the subject).
I was especially glad to see Ligeti and Chin on the program; I haven’t heard much of Chin other than Alice in Wonderland and enjoyed her crisp and daring etude. The program wasn't all crispness, though; Lee can produce softer poetry too, as she proved in her sole encore, a Chopin Nocturne that crept softly over the audience in a twilight dreamy way.
Far from seeming disjointed, though, there are similarities in mood and intention among these short pieces (as in the fragments in The Wasteland) that give an underlying cohesion to the whole: most of these pieces look both backwards and forwards, uniting tradition and innovation: Bach writes new dances in traditional forms, Shostakovich (the Prelude and Fugue No. 15 in D-flat Major, Opus 87 No 15) imitates Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier; Ligeti writes an etude (but for virtuoso – Etude No. 6, Autumn in Warsaw) and his student Unsuk Chin writes another etude, also for virtuoso (Etude no. 6, Grains); and Ravel (the first half ended with La valse) deconstructs the waltz. And as for Schumann, the December 23 issue of the New York Review of Books has a fascinating article by Charles Rosen about Schumann’s innovative piano music (unfortunately I can't link to it since it's subscribers only but it's worth seeking out if you're interested in the subject).
I was especially glad to see Ligeti and Chin on the program; I haven’t heard much of Chin other than Alice in Wonderland and enjoyed her crisp and daring etude. The program wasn't all crispness, though; Lee can produce softer poetry too, as she proved in her sole encore, a Chopin Nocturne that crept softly over the audience in a twilight dreamy way.
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