Search found 2250 matches
- Thu May 02, 2024 3:23 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Kim Noltemy to Take Over LA Philharmonic
- Replies: 3
- Views: 67
Re: Kim Noltemy to Take Over LA Philharmonic
I have no doubt that classical music will survive in the United States; the issue that I was addressing was whether classical music will survive in what has become a Land ohne Kultur , specifically Los Angeles. I have no doubt that it will survive in cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago or even ...
- Thu May 02, 2024 12:28 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Kim Noltemy to Take Over LA Philharmonic
- Replies: 3
- Views: 67
Kim Noltemy to Take Over LA Philharmonic
Kim Noltemy, who is currently the CEO of the Dallas Symphony, is to become the new President and CEO of the Los Angeles Philharmonic as of July 2024. Ms. Noltemy, who is highly regarded as an orchestral administrator, faces serious challenges. One of the most obvious is to replace Gustavo Dudamel as...
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 4:53 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: When you buy a recording, is it for the music or the artist performing?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 633
Re: When you buy a recording, is it for the music or the artist performing?
An example of what I am talking about--I just ordered two 10-CD box sets (!!!) of the music of Dror Feiler, a composer originally from Israel, now living in Sweden, who could be said to make Iannis Xenakis sound like "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."
- Thu Apr 25, 2024 11:38 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: When you buy a recording, is it for the music or the artist performing?
- Replies: 13
- Views: 633
Re: When you buy a recording, is it for the music or the artist performing?
Typically, particularly because one of my major interests is contemporary music, I tend to buy based on the repertoire. There are certain artists, though, that I may buy even if doing so involves some duplication of repertoire; for example, Gil Rose and his Boston Modern Orchestral Project (I am now...
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 3:32 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Klaus Mäkelä named to head Chicago Symphony Orchestra
- Replies: 19
- Views: 786
Re: Klaus Mäkelä named to head Chicago Symphony Orchestra
As usual, it seems that no conductors born in the United States and no women were ever seriously considered. I have not heard Maestro Mäkelä live and I have not heard any of his recordings, so it is not really fair for me to comment on his conducting. The reviews of his Sibelius cycle on Decca have ...
- Sun Mar 31, 2024 9:15 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Bartok's Piano Concertos (1, 2, 3)
- Replies: 10
- Views: 401
Re: Bartok's Piano Concertos (1, 2, 3)
I have Bronfman with Salonen conducting the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Bronfman is well-suited to these works (also to Prokofiev's concertos). Bartók, particularly in his first two concertos, almost treats the piano as a percussion instrument. (Interestingly, the word for "piano" in Hungarian is the ...
- Sat Mar 23, 2024 3:46 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Maurizio Pollini, pianist who reveled in demanding music, dies at 82
- Replies: 19
- Views: 460
Re: Maurizio Pollini, pianist who reveled in demanding music, dies at 82
He will be sorely missed. It is one of my great regrets that he did not get a chance to record a complete set of Stockhausen's Klavierstücke. Perhaps Igor Levit, an intellectual pianist in the Pollini mold, will take them up.
- Tue Mar 19, 2024 10:20 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Esa-Pekka Salonen to quit San Francisco
- Replies: 8
- Views: 386
Re: Esa-Pekka Salonen to quit San Francisco
The musicians have been circulating a leaflet to concert attendees. I agree with some of the points in the leaflet, notably the objections to the discontinuation of the SoundBox contemporary music programs and of educational programs. However, I think that their push for a pay raise in this situatio...
- Fri Mar 15, 2024 8:42 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Esa-Pekka Salonen to quit San Francisco
- Replies: 8
- Views: 386
Re: Esa-Pekka Salonen to quit San Francisco
San Francisco has put itself into an extremely difficult situation. Although the area still has plenty of extremely wealthy people, the "new money," mostly from high tech, has shown little interest in supporting arts institutions, particularly established institutions such as the symphony and the op...
- Fri Mar 08, 2024 12:40 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Met Opera’s Orchestra Will Tour Asia for the First Time
- Replies: 6
- Views: 206
Re: Met Opera’s Orchestra Will Tour Asia for the First Time
These tours are a total waste of time and money (and, given that the Met has been dipping into its endowment repeatedly, they do not have money to waste). That does not even consider the environmental consequences of flying something like 100 musicians, their instruments, and the support staff to As...
- Fri Mar 08, 2024 10:39 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Why Don't More American Maestros Head American Orchestras
- Replies: 4
- Views: 222
Re: Why Don't More American Maestros Head American Orchestras
I definitely agree. It seems that most of the decision makers in major American orchestras give preference to any random assistant vice-Kapellmeister of the Kleinmachnow Philharmoniker over any potential American candidates when hiring a music director. (Yes, I realize that Kleinmachnow, a small tow...
- Mon Feb 19, 2024 10:39 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | Jordi Savall with Le Concert des Nations
- Replies: 13
- Views: 729
Re: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 | Jordi Savall with Le Concert des Nations
Here we go again! The translation of that phrase: "strips Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 of any monumentality, instead infusing the well-known Beethoven symphony with a transparency and a lightness which render it a delicate gem" is "Here is another wimpy, underpowered, excessively tame Beethoven Ninth ...
- Mon Feb 05, 2024 7:53 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Classical 2024 Grammy winners
- Replies: 4
- Views: 357
Re: Classical 2024 Grammy winners
The Thomas Adès' "Dante" recording is definitely available. I have had it for at least six months. Like his "Totentanz," this is another example of Adès channeling Liszt.
- Sun Feb 04, 2024 11:03 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Furtwängler CD numbers - overwhelming!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 1046
Re: Furtwängler CD numbers - overwhelming!
This is going to be extremely controversial, and I apologize to anyone whom I may have offended, but I wouldn't touch this set if I could get it for $5.00 with free shipping. Firstly, and probably least important, I have no desire to hear standard repertoire such as Bruckner in mediocre mono sound w...
- Thu Feb 01, 2024 11:16 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: A Sober Lady Macbeth
- Replies: 6
- Views: 472
Re: A Sober Lady Macbeth
There is a new Fanfare review of the last installment of Nelson's Shostakovich cycle with the Boston Symphony, which includes the Second, Third, Twelfth, and Thirteenth ("Babi Yar") Symphonies. Undoubtedly, the most important of these is the Thirteenth, and the review had the following comment: "Six...
- Thu Feb 01, 2024 1:06 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: A Sober Lady Macbeth
- Replies: 6
- Views: 472
Re: A Sober Lady Macbeth
Although I have heard neither this performance of "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" nor any of the recordings in the Nelsons Shostakovich symphony cycle with the Boston Symphony, this review is generally consistent with the reviews of the symphony cycle. The last thing I would want in "Lady Macbeth of Mtsen...
- Sat Jan 27, 2024 11:23 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
- Replies: 30
- Views: 1971
Re: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
Agreed--you can't racialize everything in music. I would bet that if you played William Grant Still's "Afro-American Symphony" to an audience who was unfamiliar with the composer or the work (and without mentioning the title, which, of course, would be a dead giveaway), and then asked the audience m...
- Fri Jan 26, 2024 3:15 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
- Replies: 30
- Views: 1971
Re: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
A recording of the Gershwin orchestral works, including "Rhapsody in Blue," that I have had for years, is on a 2-CD Vox set conducted by Leonard Slatkin with the St. Louis Symphony and Jeffrey Siegel as piano soloist. The set was dirt cheap. The sound, late analog with the team of Aubort-Nickrenz, i...
- Fri Jan 26, 2024 1:06 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
- Replies: 30
- Views: 1971
Re: The Worst Masterpiece: ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ at 100
Leave "Rhapsody in Blue" alone. For that matter, composers have been basing works on popular tunes for at least 500 years. The popular French tune, "L'homme armé," dating from the Late Middle Ages, was used as the basis for something like 40 or more masses, including masses by such composers as Dufa...
- Wed Jan 24, 2024 1:36 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Release of CD Recording of Kevin Puts' "The Hours"
- Replies: 1
- Views: 527
Release of CD Recording of Kevin Puts' "The Hours"
Erato Records is issuing a CD recording of Kevin Puts' opera "The Hours" in March 2024. This is apparently a live recording from the Metropolitan Opera featuring Joyce DiDonato, Renee Fleming, and Kelli O'Hara in the major female roles. It is a 2-CD set. (No sign of this on Amazon USA as of yet).
- Mon Jan 22, 2024 11:16 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Welser-Most to leave Cleveland Orchestra in 2027
- Replies: 6
- Views: 824
Re: Welser-Most to leave Cleveland Orchestra in 2027
I don't have a clue as to who is to replace Welser-Möst, but Cleveland will be the third major United States orchestra that is looking or will soon be looking for a new music director, after Los Angeles and Chicago. I sincerely hope that the decision makers for these orchestras will think outside th...
- Thu Jan 18, 2024 8:09 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Paul Hindemith: Symphony in E flat major (audio, score)
- Replies: 9
- Views: 993
Re: Paul Hindemith: Symphony in E flat major (audio, score)
I have always enjoyed this work and wonder why it is not played more frequently. Leonard Bernstein made a tremendous recording with the New York Philharmonic, which was reissued on CD.
- Thu Jan 18, 2024 8:07 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1099
Re: Peter Schickele, Composer and Gleeful Sire of P.D.Q. Bach, Dies at 88
Too bad, we never did get P.D.Q. Bach's "Spam in Allium."
- Mon Jan 08, 2024 8:54 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Unnecessary Recordings, Episode No. 4,373
- Replies: 7
- Views: 846
Re: Unnecessary Recordings, Episode No. 4,373
I bought the Walker recording. I don't think that I will be in the market for another Beethoven symphony cycle soon, but I might look into Andris Nelsons or possibly Riccardo Chailly. I definitely will not buy any of the Beethoven period-instrument cycles (I can hear Beethoven screaming: "Nein, nein...
- Mon Jan 08, 2024 4:19 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Once again, record magazines aren't giving ME much!
- Replies: 12
- Views: 831
Re: Once again, record magazines aren't giving ME much!
I do not believe that Toscanini ever recorded for Mercury Living Presence (then an independent label). He recorded almost exclusively for RCA until he stopped recording in 1954, three years before his death.
- Mon Jan 08, 2024 1:36 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Unnecessary Recordings, Episode No. 4,373
- Replies: 7
- Views: 846
Unnecessary Recordings, Episode No. 4,373
This is Episode No. 4,373 in the long-running saga "Unnecessary Recordings." The National Symphony Orchestra of Washington, D.C., now running its own label, is about to issue a cycle of the Beethoven symphonies. This is hardly needed, to say, the least. Its last recording, which definitely does not ...
- Fri Dec 15, 2023 12:07 pm
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: What’s Driving Former Progressives to the Right?
- Replies: 5
- Views: 991
Re: What’s Driving Former Progressives to the Right?
This is hardly a new phenomenon, particularly if you know twentieth-century European history. Mussolini started out as a left-wing socialist. In France, Jacques Doriot started out as a communist and was the Communist mayor of Saint Denis; he eventually broke with the French Communist Party, moved to...
- Sat Dec 02, 2023 1:57 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: A New York Philharmonic Staple Outshines a Flashy Premiere
- Replies: 9
- Views: 764
Re: A New York Philharmonic Staple Outshines a Flashy Premiere
The Bryce Dessner Double Piano Concerto is on a Deutsche Grammophon CD (481 807-4) with the Labèque sisters and the Orchestre de Paris conducted by Matthias Pintscher. The CD also contains other works played by the Labèque sisters. (I have that CD.) (Don't dismiss Dessner as a serious classical comp...
- Thu Nov 30, 2023 6:57 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Complete Allan Pettersson Edition on BIS
- Replies: 10
- Views: 823
Complete Allan Pettersson Edition on BIS
BIS Records is to release a complete Allan Pettersson edition in January 2024, with 19 CDs and 4 DVDs. This apparently includes all of the symphonies, the chamber music, the concertos, and the songs. I shall definitely get this; I have some of the symphonies on earlier CPO discs but will almost cert...
- Thu Nov 23, 2023 11:16 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Presto Music Announces Classical Awards Lineup
- Replies: 2
- Views: 331
Re: Presto Music Announces Classical Awards Lineup
This is an amazing list. Despite all of the gloom and doom, not to mention the effects of COVID, there is still a huge number of excellent recordings being made, including from the majors. It looks like I shall have to fire off another order to Presto prestissimo , if my credit card can stand it (no...
- Thu Nov 02, 2023 3:46 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Xiaogang Ye "Sichuan Image" and "Concerto for Life"
- Replies: 1
- Views: 302
Xiaogang Ye "Sichuan Image" and "Concerto for Life"
I picked this up on BIS recently: "Sichuan Image" for orchestra with Chinese instruments and the piano concerto "Concerto of Life" (with Noriko Ogawa as soloist) played by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Jose Serebrier. To say the least, I was very disappointed. The works sounded ...
- Mon Oct 02, 2023 7:48 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Review: ‘Dead Man Walking’ Opens a Met Season Heavy on the New
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1773
Re: Review: ‘Dead Man Walking’ Opens a Met Season Heavy on the New
What operas, maybe apart from some comedies, could they actually broadcast by that standard? Carmen (where Carmen get stabbed by her old boyfriend whom she dumped for the bullfighter)? The Ring (with incest)? La Traviata (about a courtesan (a fancy word for hooker))? Baroque operas (in which, typica...
- Thu Sep 28, 2023 11:45 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Christian Thielemann to Succeed Daniel Barenboim at Berlin State Opera
- Replies: 4
- Views: 950
Re: Christian Thielemann to Succeed Daniel Barenboim at Berlin State Opera
Sorry, Belle, I must respectfully disagree. The fact that the people of Dresden undoubtedly suffered under the reactionary German Democratic Republic, in which the East German Communist Party welcomed into its membership a large number of ex-Nazis, no questions asked, cannot possibly justify Thielem...
- Mon Sep 11, 2023 9:15 am
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
- Replies: 8
- Views: 817
Re: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
The Padres have been eliminated even from the possibility of making the playoffs via the wild card. Of the so-called "Big Four" players in the middle of their lineup (Tatis, Soto, Machado, and Bogaerts), none of them has even come close to their expected performance (Bogaerts is the closest, and eve...
- Mon Aug 28, 2023 11:00 am
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
- Replies: 8
- Views: 817
Re: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
There is a really fun story about Mookie Betts. A couple of weeks ago, he was talking to a fan, and the fan said that if Betts hit a home run on his next at-bat, the fan would give his baby daughter who was about to be born the middle name Mookie. Betts said: "Don't do that, man. Don't do that. What...
- Mon Aug 28, 2023 10:28 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Eugene Ormandy Complete Coulmbia Stereo Collection
- Replies: 9
- Views: 1698
Re: Eugene Ormandy Complete Coulmbia Stereo Collection
I am thinking of buying the Ormandy box, but that would result in a lot of repertoire duplication. What I will probably wind up doing, if possible, is to download a few works from Presto Classical of repertoire that I do not have, particularly Richard Yardumian. Sony has been making a lot of individ...
- Sun Aug 27, 2023 11:33 pm
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
- Replies: 8
- Views: 817
Re: Tracking Ohtani's Triple Crown chances
Despite Ohtani and a few other players (I will name Mookie Betts and Freddy Freeman of the Dodgers), this has been a very dispiriting baseball season. I have been watching some San Diego Padres games, and I am absolutely disgusted by the lack of hustle, intensity, and consistency that I have been se...
- Wed Aug 16, 2023 11:54 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
- Replies: 5
- Views: 807
Re: Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
I just ordered the 21-CD Deutsche Grammophon box set from jpc in Germany and it has been already shipped. Interestingly, they have reduced their shipping charges to the United States, running counter to the trend of many suppliers to increase shipping charges, and shipping was only 3.50 Euros, or sl...
- Sat Aug 12, 2023 1:10 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Christopher Rouse Symphony No. 6
- Replies: 3
- Views: 561
Christopher Rouse Symphony No. 6
As I had hoped, the Cincinnati Symphony will release a recording of the Symphony No. 6 by the late American composer Christopher Rouse in September on their own label, Fanfare Cincinnati. Apparently, the symphony (about 29 minutes) will be the only work on the recording. It doesn't matter to me--thi...
- Sat Aug 12, 2023 1:04 pm
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Ultra-Orthodox Bibiites crack down on Israeli women
- Replies: 5
- Views: 447
Re: Ultra-Orthodox Bibiites crack down on Israeli women
There is no real religious or historical basis for these views. It is interesting that a number of ancient synagogues in the Middle East have been excavated and studied, dating from about 200-400 CE, and in none of these synagogues is there any separation between a men's section and a women's sectio...
- Wed Aug 09, 2023 10:23 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: In Opera, Clocks Take the Spotlight
- Replies: 2
- Views: 424
Re: In Opera, Clocks Take the Spotlight
Regarding operas dealing with clocks and time, what about Rossini's La Cenerentola?
- Sat Jul 29, 2023 7:05 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Has Scott Joplin’s ‘Thoroughly American Opera’ Found Its Moment?
- Replies: 10
- Views: 1032
Re: Has Scott Joplin’s ‘Thoroughly American Opera’ Found Its Moment?
I think that the current "diversity, equity, and inclusion" movement, albeit well-intentioned, has done the music of Scott Joplin no favors. I feel that Joplin is being played solely because of his race and not because of the evident quality of his music. Moreover, I feel that there is a tendency to...
- Fri Jun 02, 2023 3:27 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Death of Finnish Composer Kaija Saariaho
- Replies: 5
- Views: 574
Death of Finnish Composer Kaija Saariaho
The death of Finnish composer Kaija Saariaho, 70 years old, from brain cancer, has just been announced. Saariaho was considered one of the leading Finnish composers. She was particularly known for her operas, such as L'amour du loin . Much of her earlier music included tape or electronics. This is a...
- Fri Jun 02, 2023 2:49 pm
- Forum: Corner Pub
- Topic: Krugman: The Case of the Disappearing Debt Disaster
- Replies: 4
- Views: 388
Re: Krugman: The Case of the Disappearing Debt Disaster
I do suspect that the business community did weigh in with the diminishing number of Republicans who even take the views of the business community into account, as opposed to attacking it for "wokeness" no matter how many jobs might be lost (see DeSantis's antics in Florida and what he is doing to t...
- Mon May 29, 2023 11:44 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Gustavo Dudamel in New York: Selfies, Hugs and Mahler
- Replies: 6
- Views: 583
Re: Gustavo Dudamel in New York: Selfies, Hugs and Mahler
Alex Ross of the New Yorker just posted a devastatingly withering review of Dudamel's Mahler Ninth Symphony, calling the performance, among other things, "curiously inert" and stating that, in the last movement, that there was no undertow of valedictory passion, no time-stopping heartbreak at the en...
- Thu May 25, 2023 12:05 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
- Replies: 5
- Views: 807
Re: Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
There is another good set of the Chavez symphonies that I bought dirt cheap on Vox--a 2-CD set with the much-missed Eduardo Mata conducting the London Symphony Orchestra.
- Thu May 25, 2023 7:58 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
- Replies: 5
- Views: 807
Some Interesting Box Sets of 20th-Century Music
Sony is releasing a 6-CD box set of Carlos Chavez (originally on Columbia LPs), including the six symphonies and some ballets not otherwise available, such as "Pyramide," "Los Cuatro Soles," and "Xochipili-Maculixchitl," mostly conducted by the composer. Even more exciting is that Deutsche Grammopho...
- Sun May 21, 2023 9:50 am
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Gustavo Dudamel Leads His New York Philharmonic
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1020
Re: Gustavo Dudamel Leads His New York Philharmonic
Appointing Dudamel the music director of the New York Philharmonic will turn out to be the worst mistake that esteemed orchestra has ever made (and they have made a few).
- Mon May 08, 2023 3:13 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: Order of service for King Charles’ coronation on 6 May
- Replies: 18
- Views: 1933
Re: Order of service for King Charles’ coronation on 6 May
Sorry. I stand by my views. It was bad enough to have all that Anglican religious language in an increasingly multicultural and multi-religious country. It was worse to have the pro-Republic demonstrators treated as though they were in Russia or some tin-pot Third World dictatorship.
- Mon Apr 24, 2023 8:03 pm
- Forum: Classical Music Chatterbox
- Topic: New York Philharmonic, Pushing Cultural Diplomacy, Plans Asia Tour
- Replies: 11
- Views: 1206
Re: New York Philharmonic, Pushing Cultural Diplomacy, Plans Asia Tour
I sincerely hope that you are right regarding Dudamel and that he will improve the orchestra, but I fear that it is much more likely to be an unmitigated disaster. Unlike Los Angeles, which has continued to feature contemporary music and new music, New York is much more oriented to standard repertoi...