The Classical Music Guide Forums

THEHORN

Jbuck, I don't think the Met's repertoire is all that conservative . Within the past 20 years or so it as broadened and diversified its repertoire considerably , doing numerous operas you would never have expected them to do in its early years at Lincoln center . This year they're doing the US premi...

THEHORN

This is a wonderful symphony , but sadly neglected because most conductors never bother to program any of the Dvorak symphonies beyond the last three . A pity . Audiences would love it if they got a chance to hear it live . And too many concertgoers don't want to hear anything other than their belov...

THEHORN

Good news - there is a new DVD of "Tsar Saltan " out from the Mariisky opera with Gergiev conducting . Must get this as soon as possible .

THEHORN

Not too long ago , I was watching reruns of the Joan Rovers show on cable TV and she had Robert Merrill as a guest . He was a really funny guy and made all kinds of wisecracks . He had the timing of a first rate standup comedian ! I think he could have made a career as one .

THEHORN

Whatever his faults, Furtwangler was no Anti-Semite , and there is absolutely no evidence of him ever having Anti-Semitic sentiments . He enabled many Jewish musicians to escape Germany , and he he were an Anti-Semite, Yehudi Menuhin, who regularly collaborated with him on violin concertos and admir...

THEHORN

I have the Naxos recording of his large scale "Ocean" symphony , which is about the length of a Mahler or Bruckner symphony , and airports to evoke the various world oceans and seas . It's certainly an interesting and even different work, but is somewhat repetitious . It's still well worth hearing, ...

THEHORN

"The full blooded vitality of their conducting (Petrenko and Nelsons ) is certainly welcome in a time when there's not so much of it about " ? John, are you really suggesting that the work of most of the other conductors of the present day is "lacking in vitality ?" With all due respect, how can you...

THEHORN

Actually, the two conductors are not related at all .

THEHORN

Ranking orchestras is such a futile and subjective thing . Asking which is the "best" is like asking which would cuisine is the best ? Chinese? French? Italian ? Japanese ? The Vienna Philharmonic can be difficult for some conductors to manage, but when it's at its best , you can't beat them ! I rem...

THEHORN

The July issue of Opera News has a really interesting article on Kirill Petrenko , the rather mysterious and elusive Russian conductor who is set to succeed Sir Simon Rattle as chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, and who is currently music director of the Bavarian State opera . Petrenko avoi...

THEHORN

In the story, the reason why the empress cannot have children is because she is half human, and half member of the non-human spirit world . Her husband's fertility is not in question . In the end, her father Keikobad , ruler of the spirit world, grants her full humanity so she will be able to bear c...

THEHORN

Chris Martin, who had the difficult job of succeeding Herseth in Chicago but did an outstanding job, is now principal trumpet of the New York Philharmonic, succeeding Philip Smith , who is also a terrific trumpeter .

THEHORN

On the contrary , I've found Rattle's recordings of Beethoven, Brahms, Bruckner, Mahler etc to be highly insightful and fresh .Nothing " weak" about them . I've never heard a bad performance form Rattle or one that seemed just ho hum . You can disagree with him about the interpretation of this or th...

THEHORN

Sad news . He was certainly one of the foremost conductors of our time . His repertoire was huge, by no means limited to Russian music . Among other things he recorded the complete symphony of Bruckner in Moscow , including the various different extent revisions . He conducted English music , and ev...

THEHORN

Blomstedt has already recorded a Bruckner cycle with his former orchestra, the Gewandhaus, but I can't recall the label . Haven't heard it but would definitely like to . He has also recorded the 6th for Decca with the San Fransisco symphony , and a couple of others with the Staatskapelle, Dresden , ...

THEHORN

Also, while I enjoyed the get together at the Atlantic Grill, it was pretty loud because it was filled with customers and I had some difficulty with conversation because of this . At one of the previous dinners , we had a separate room where there was no difficulty with conversation .

THEHORN

I'd love to attend but transportation would be a problem, as I'm confined to a wheelchair andmy neurological condition which has made me unable to walk has been getting worse gradually .

THEHORN

This is not only interesting but a weird co-incidence ! I once answer an ad to be assistant to a world class musician in the zNY times around 1981 , and was called in for an interview with Bernstein's business manager Harry Kraut , and lo and behold I found out it was for being his assistant ! I did...

THEHORN

Daniel Gingrich is actually the acting principal horn of the CSO , and because principal when the legendary Dale Clevenger retired a few years ago . He used to be associate principal . Apparently, the orchestra has no intention of holding auditions for another principal horn . Muti is somewhat notor...

THEHORN

Happy birthday, Lance !

THEHORN

John, the Keilberth recording from the Bavarian State opera is from a live performance , although I hear that parts of it were possibly taken from the dress rehearsal .

THEHORN

I know this will be considered heretical by many , but I've long felt Mehta to be the most underrated and unjustly maligned conductor of our time . It's one thing not to like a particular conductor's work in general, but Mehta was treated like dirt by the music critics in New York when he was music ...

THEHORN

I've heard the Plasson with Van Damrecording and the earlier one conducted by Kazimierz Kord conducting on Decca and with Ghiaurov and Crsspin but haven't seen a staged production yet . I would certainly like to and the Met should definitely revive it . It's a beautiful opera and John, I would''t ca...

THEHORN

I don't agree about Mehta's tenure with the Philharmonic . In fact, the orchestra, especially the brass often sounded appallingly course under Bernstein and other conductors such as Mitropolous . Which is not to say they didn't do some terrific work with the orchestra . Mehta was treated in an unbel...

THEHORN

Have you heard his recording of the Reger Hiller variations on Berlin Classics with the Gewandhaus orchestra ? Absolutely first rate . His recordings of Der Fliegende Hollander and Tannhauser are also deservedly acclaimed .

THEHORN

Heck,Franz Konwitschny is very little known in America and I don't believe he ever appeared here . But he left some terrific recordings, such as his Beethoven symphonies with the Gewandhaus orchestra to name only one example . I recently heard it on youtube and recommend it highly . He was I believe...

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 ...

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