Posts Tagged ‘Mozart’
Mozart’s Requiem Revealed: Georg Friedrich Haas’s 7 Klangräume zu Mozarts Requiem played by the Argento Contemporary Ensemble, Michel Galante, conductor, with the Andante for flute and orchestra, K. 315 with Paula Robison
Performances that are enlightening to the point of changing our attitudes about the textual and performative conventions of a major work or transforming the way we listen to it are extremely rare. That’s a good thing, in fact, because audiences, who really should be more open to innovation than they are, need and are even entitled to at least some of the comfort tradition offers—not forgetting Otto Klemperer’s famous dictum on the subject…Certain performance traditions change every generation, others perhaps twice as often, yet others less often. The Argento Chamber Ensemble’s recent performance of Georg Friedrich Haas’s 7 Klangräume zu den unvollendeten Fragmenten des Requiems von W. A. Mozart was just such a performance. The composer responsible for the 7 Klangräume, or Seven Soundspaces, Herr Haas, the Argento musicians, and their brilliant conductor, Michael Galante, can share the honors for bringing us Mozart’s Requiem in a new form, adopting a principle which should be even obvious, but which seemed unthinkable because of the consolatory nature of the work and the comforting influence of tradition in its reception. Both the editorial treatment and the performance came together to create an exhilarating new image of the work.
An Elegant Evening in Imperial Austria: Mozart and Mahler by the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic sounded particularly courtly under the direction of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos in a recent program of Mozart and Mahler. Already the entrance of the maestro, tall, magisterial, and impeccable in his tails, transported one back to the golden days of music-making in Imperial Vienna. Conducting from a seated position on the [...]
Emanuel Ax Plays Bach and Schoenberg with the New York Philharmonic and Alan Gilbert…and Mozart’s “Linz” Symphony
I was so delighted by Emanuel Ax’s performance of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto with the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra under Ken-David Masur that I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to hear him play it again. They created a crystalline texture with their alert interactions, with all the incisiveness of the best chamber music playing. Not exactly what one associates with the New York Philharmonic, as excellent an orchestra as they have been, since Kurt Masur’s t years, but, in my experience, Alan Gilbert is strong with twentieth century Music, and it seemed like a promising combination to say the least…and it did work, although in a way quite different from the Tanglewood performance.
New York Philharmonic, Alan Gilbert, Music Director: 2011–12 Season Preview and Concert Schedule
Alan Gilbert is about to begin his third season as Music Director of the New York Philharmonic, and he appears to remain as popular as ever. His particular combination of rapport with the orchestra, solid, insightful, often brilliant musicianship, flair for programming, and a winning, articulate manner have won him a support among the [...]
Lincoln Center Festival 2011: Ballet, Bruckner, Brook, Druid, Merce, Ruders, Shakespeare…
This year the Lincoln Center Festival will be longer and richer than ever. It will offer 116 performances by ensembles and artists from some 20 countries, and will include 6 World, North American, U.S., and New York premieres unfolding in seven venues on and off the Lincoln Center complex. In spite of all this cultural [...]
Alan Gilbert conducts the New York Philharmonic in Webern, Mozart, and Schumann
New York Philharmonic Avery Fisher Hall Tuesday, December 29, 2009, 7:30 P.M. Wednesday, December 30, 2009, 7:30 P.M. Saturday, January 2, 2010, 8:00 P.M. Alan Gilbert, Conductor Leif Ove Andsnes, Piano Webern, Im Sommerwind Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 23 in A, K. 488 Webern, Symphony, Op. 21 Schumann, Symphony No. 2 in C Major, Op. [...]
Don Giovanni at the Met x 2
Metropolitan Opera House Don Giovanni Mozart-Da Ponte Conductor – Louis Langrée Continuo: Dennis Giauque, Harpsichord David Heiss, Cello Mandolin Solo: Joyce Rasmussen Balint Production – Marthe Keller Set Designer – Michael Yeargan Costume Designer – Christine Rabot-Pinson Lighting Designer – Jean Kalman Choreographer – Blanca Li Stage Director – Gina Lapinski October 4, 2008 Don [...]
Alfred Brendel, Deborah Voigt, James Levine, Metropolitan Opera Orchestra: Mozart, Webern, Berg, Strauss, Salome
The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra James Levine, Music Director and Conductor Deborah Voigt, Soprano Alfred Brendel, Piano Webern, Six Pieces for Orchestra Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491 Berg, Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6 R. Strauss, Final Scene from Salome It comes as particularly sad news that Alfred Brendel will retire from public recitals [...]
