The Classical Music Guide Forums

THEHORN

Excellent article . I remember the commentary of Miles Hoffmann on an NPR classical music program whose name I don't recall offhand , and his explanations of classical music terminology etc were the kind which are extremely helpful to people who may like classical music but don't know much about it ...

THEHORN

I don't think we can rule out the possibility of a Met production some time in the future . I'msure they could do it justice . I'm not familiar with the names of the cast other than Cokorinos. I got to know this wonderful opera long ago on LP from the excellent RCA recording with Cesare Siepi and An...

THEHORN

For me at least, one of the best things about classical CDs today is the incredible amount and variety of off-beat, out of the way repertoire which is so easily available . Why get your umpteenth recording of the nine Beethoven symphonies when you can the symphonies of Myaskovsky, Balakirev, Taneyev...

THEHORN

Performances at the Met vary in quality, the same as with every opera house period . Sometimes a performance may be vocally lackluster and other times it may be superlative . And thishas always been true of opera performances . No mater how badly any Met singer of the present day may sing, I guarant...

THEHORN

Bach was required to use a variety of religious texts for the cantatas he composed ; this was part of his job as a Cantor and Kapellmeister . So we can't be sure he agreed with all the sentiments expressed in them . Therefore, we can't be sure he was as hostile to Catholicism as the tex in the cant ...

THEHORN

I wasn't there for this performance, although I would loved to have heard it . John, the Bavarian State orchestra, which also plays concerts, is a wonderful orchestra, no doubt about it . I recently say a youtube video showing the overture to the recent Munich Tannhauser production with Petrenko con...

THEHORN

Interesting article, but the claim about Bach allegedly having a "contempt for Judaism, Catholicism and Islam " as well as for "foreigners " strikes me as questionable . As far as I know, there is no evidence that Bach, devout as he was as a Lutheran, was this intolerant toward other religions or fo...

THEHORN

Damn autocorrect ! I didn't even notice this ! But my eyesight isn't fully recovered from a recent cataract removal surgery .

THEHORN

OOPs ! I should have said "Once again I disagree with you John ."

THEHORN

Once again, I disagree with you on everything . Wand was an outstanding conductor ; he was never a flashy interpreter, but neither was he in any way a "kapellmeister" in the negative or derogatory sense of the word . I recently borrowed the set of the Beethoven symphonies with the NDR symphony , whi...

THEHORN

A couple of these paintings look like mountain landscapes from the Caucasus , which was not originally a part of Russia and has long been inhabited by a wide variety of indigenous Muslim mountain tribes such as the Chechens , Circassians and others .

THEHORN

I didn't hear enough of Gilbert's work with the Philharmonic to form a definite opinion about him , or his work with other orchestras. But what I have hear has been very impressive , and I am very confident about him and the Elbephilharmonie in Hamburg, previously the NDR symphony orchestra in the n...

THEHORN

MaestroB, I disagree with you about the New York Philharmonic . It has had great conductors since Bernstein, and they certainly gave many wonderful performances . Boulez, Mehta, Masur, Maazel - these aren't exactly chopped liver ! I heard some absolutely magnificent performances by the orchestra und...

THEHORN

Philippe Jordan is not as well known as Thielemann, Rattle, and Barenboim, but he's younger , and this may change . I've seen DVDs of him conducting Busoni' s Doktor Faust with the Zurich opera and Werher with eh Vienna State opera, and would recommend them to anyone . His work as music director of ...

THEHORN

I'm disappointed to see only four new productions next season , but I'm curious about the new Nico Muhly opera, and I supposed it's not a bad idea to do a new Adriana, since the old one dates to before the Met moved to Lincoln Center , and some people really like this opera . They could have done mo...

THEHORN

John, I would ver much like to see how Philippe Jordan conducts the Ring . He's a very gifted conductor and one of the finest Wagner conductors of the younger generation . I'm not familiar with Greer Grimsley, but I've heard highly enthusiastic reports of him in Wagner . We almost never seem to agre...

THEHORN

John, I haven't heard many recordings by the Tonhalle orchestra , mostly the ones with Zinman conducting , but at least under Zinman , it did not sound like a "second rate orchestra " to me . The playing on their Mahler cycle , in particular , and Beethoven under Zinman did not seem inferior to more...

THEHORN

I'm talking about music critics in general, not the New York Times , especially at the New Yorker and New York magazine (not currently ) . I've noticed a general critical hostility to the
Met regarding casting, conducting, sets , directors etc . You name it .

THEHORN

I have a live performance of this opera on CD from the Wexford festival in Ireland conducted by Alexander Anissimov , and have seen production of it from the Riga, Latvia opera . It's certainly an interesting opera , worth doing . The story deals with a demon who is weary of being evil and wants to ...

THEHORN

I don't think "everybody pretty much sounds like everybody else ". I haven't had a s much chance to hear America's different orchestras and compare them in recent years , because, unfortunately, they have been making far fewer recordings , radio and TV broadcasts and telecasts are far less common th...

THEHORN

When I first saw this , I thought it read "kooky" interview in NY Times . Well, Koskie is a kooky opera director . I'm not opposed to a director and designer having a concept for any given opera , but I can't stand ones that are full of ridiculous arbitrary gimmicks . About a year or so I saw a DVD ...

THEHORN

I haven't heard a lot of Spano's conducting , buI was very much impressed with his DG recording of Osvaldo Golijov's opera "Ainadamar " with Dawn Upshaw . The Atlanta symphony is an excellent orchestra and I think there are quite a few distinguished conductors around who would be glad to be named it...

THEHORN

There are so many outstanding recordings of Mahler symphonies I find it impossible to choose favorites among them . But this is true of so many other composers with me. Just to go alphabetically , all of these conductors have made memorable Mahler recordings: Abbado, Boulez Bernstein Barbirolli Chai...

THEHORN

Despite the HIP movement, mainstream orchestras do still perform music written before 1830 , and why not ? There is absolutely nothing wrong with this , and I for one actually find it refreshing to come back to the "wrong instruments ". I'm not opposed to HIP performances and recordings at all, and ...

THEHORN

John, unfortunately, Dawn Upshaw has been fighting breast cancer in recent years , which explains her increasing rarity in public . I hope she will recover fully .

THEHORN

Glad you liked these ! I got them from another classical music forum which shall remain nameless .

THEHORN

I found these very clever composer anagrams on another classical music forum which shall remain nameless . Eve forks pierogi : Sergei Prokofiev . Each Klutz honks a siren : Karlheinz Stockhausen . Hi , uglier incubi : Luigi Cherubini . Free Bulgaria : Gabriel Faure . Dank innovator : Antonin Dvorak ...

THEHORN

It's been this way for as long I can remember with critics, not only Times ones, reviewing Met performances . The company is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't . No matter how any Met director or designer do a given opera, the critics whine and cavil. If a production is lush and traditional,...

THEHORN

OOPS ! I left the name of Hovhaness out !Sorry, my bad .

THEHORN

Lately I've been listening to some things borrowed from my local library on interloan . You can reserve anything from any of the Westchester country libraries , books, magazines, CDs and DVDs on line at your local library website within the country , and it comes to your library within about a week ...

THEHORN

Thomas has agreed to spent four weeks per season with the San Francisco symphony orchestra after he steps down . He's leaving big shoes to be filled .

THEHORN

I agree . To call the New York Philharmonic a "second tier orchestra " is truly asinine . I haven't heard much of Van Zweden's conducting so I can't pass judgment on him, but he has become one of today's leading conductors ,is said to have done outstanding work with the Dallas symphony and raised it...

THEHORN

Opera is about life . And in life, people do bad things to each other , whether men to women, women to men, men to men, or women to women . As far as I can tell, Puccini was no more of a misogynist than other famous composers .

THEHORN

Toscanini was not a totally rigid and metronomic conductor by any means . Unfortunately, too many of his NBC symphony orchestra recordings, made late in life , seem that way . His earlier recordings with the New York Philharmonic are much more flexible as well as other live performances with other o...

THEHORN

I missed two letters on one . Should be "Infidelio ". My bad .

THEHORN

Whether Bellini would have develop into a truly major and influential opera composer is moot . We'll never know. But I'm sure he COULD have become one .

THEHORN

Here are some titles for operas, ballets, and other works to be written about Donald Trump, his family and administration : False Staff . The Desecration of the house . The Not So Merry Wives Of Trump . Lady Macbeth of the District of Washington . Melania Di Lammermoor . Swine Lake (To be drained ) ...

THEHORN

The legendary 19th century soprano Lilli Lehman , famous for Wagner, said this about the role of Norma " It's more difficult than the roles of Isolde and Brunnhilde combined ".

THEHORN

Lenny, I take it you don't subscribe to Opera News . But you should . You can also check their website . No opera fan should miss the September issue with the season preview .

THEHORN

I borrowed the CD of the Met Pearl Fishers from my local library last week and enjoyed it very much . The office didn't bother me. The production was set in the modern day , but there were no idiotic Eurotrash elements in it . I also got the Met's Prince Igor from my library , and the performance wa...

THEHORN

In response to Len's profile of 11 operas being performed this season around the globe , I recently received the September issue of Opera News magazine , which has its annual preview of the opera season all over the globe . The sheer diversity of operatic repertoire scheduled is simply amazing . Eve...

THEHORN

I like that Mahler 8th . Ozawa has recorded all nine Mahler symphonies with the BSO for Philips . I haven't heard 1,2, 7 and 9 , but the others are pretty good . Ozawa's Mahler is somewhat more restrained than some other Mahlerians, but not at all dull .

THEHORN

I've only heard a few isolated bits Currentzis conducting on youtube, so I'll have to reserve judgment on him until I hear more . But he certainly sounds like a fascinating character and definitely not a boring conductor whatever you may think of his conducting . This show you the double standard so...

THEHORN

Apparently , it's easier to get an audience with the Pope than getting tickets to Bayreuth !

THEHORN

Alleregretto : When you're 16 measures into a piece and suddenly realize you've set too fast a tempo . Angus Dei : To play with a divinely beefy tone . Sprizzicato : An indication to string players to produce a bright and bubbly sound . A Patella : Accompanies by knee-slapping . Aploggiatura : \A co...

THEHORN

Dvorak is a greater composer than many give him credit for being . Outside England, his onlyreally well known works are the familiar Enigma variations, one or two of the "Pomp and Circumstances " marches, the cello concerto , and maybe one or two other works, but many listeners are not familiar with...

THEHORN

I haven't met Prager , but decades ago, my parents were close friends of his in New York . We may have met decades ago when we were young boys (he's a few years older than I am ),. but I don't remember . My mother remembered his mother Hilda, who died shortly before mine several years ago,into her n...

THEHORN

There are many operas which can survive a gimmicky Eurotrash production, but Die Meistersinger is not one of them ! I shudder to think about this new production .
From what I've read about the previous Bayreuth Meistersinger directed by Katharina Wagner, it sounded grotesquely idiotic . Oy vey !

THEHORN

I suppose this isn't going to be the worst kind of directorial meddling, as the two periods of Russian history, past and present are not totally unrelated , such as you find in so many updated productions . Back in the 90s there was a production of Boris Godunov conducted by Abbado set in the presen...

THEHORN

Welcome back, Lance !

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