Contemporary - my/maSCENA

This week in Montreal: April 29 – May 5

By La Scena Musicale Team on 29 April 2013 Baroque and Early, Choral, Contemporary, Orchestral, Romantic, This Week in Montreal

Literary and Musical Premiere at ECM+Under the artistic direction of Véronique Lacroix, ECM+ offers a visionary program: Alban Berg’s Chamber Concertoand a premiere by Nicolas Gilbert, Vertiges. Among the soloists are Jimmy Brière, piano, and Jean-Sébastien Roy, violin, as well as four acrobats and narrator Jean Marchand. Salle Pierre-Mercure, May 1 at 7:30 pm. www.ecm.qc.ca- Renée BanvilleQuatrix and the Forests of Resonance (“Forêts de résonances”)Composed of two pianists (Jean-Fabien Schneider and Irina Krasnyanskaya) and two percussionists (Corinne René and Julien Compagne), Quatrix presents the “classics” of the repertoire, comissioned works, and musical arrangements for this little-used formation. Conservatoire de Musique,…

Video of the Day – Billy Mayerl: a Light Music Master

By Paul E. Robinson on 1 April 2013 Contemporary, Piano, Video of the day

Billy Mayerl (1902-1959) was an English pianist and composer, well-known for his contributions in the field of light music. His specialty may have been “light music” but he was a master. He appeared as piano soloist in the first UK performance of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue in 1925. He wrote some memorable songs including “Marigold” which he plays in this video. He was also tremendously inventive at the keyboard, as you will also see in this video.Paul E. Robinson

Maestro Peter Bay/ASO: Heroic, Soaring Sibelius Second!

By Paul E. Robinson on 22 March 2013 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonMaestro Peter Bay (photo by Marita)Beethoven: Leonore No. 2 OvertureGinastera: Harp Concerto Op. 25Sibelius: Symphony No. 2Yolanda Kondonassis, harpAustin Symphony/Peter BayAustin, TexasLong CenterMarch 8, 2013It’s not often that one hears a harp soloist with a symphony orchestra. There are good reasons for that; most importantly, it is not a fair fight. The harp by nature can produce only a modest amount of sound, and is easily drowned out by even the smallest orchestra. The sound a harp makes is produced by the fingerpicking of strings and even a player with strong fingers can do only so much.…

Video of the Day – Bychkov Conducts Shostakovich

By Paul E. Robinson on 18 March 2013 Contemporary, Orchestral, Video of the day

This is some of the most terrifying music ever written; the scherzo from the Symphony No. 8 by Shostakovich. Here is a performance that is exemplary in every respect, not least of all, as a master class in conducting. Semyon Bychkov not only understands this music like few others but he knows how to get an orchestra to play it magnificently. The tempo is fast and the character of the music is intense and savage. Yet Bychkov is intense but incredibly controlled in his demeanor and gestures. Much of the time he is using little more than his right wrist…

Beethoven & Britten at the Movies

By Paul E. Robinson on 21 December 2012 Classical, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. Robinson From left to right: Mark Ivanir, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener A Late Quartet Director: Yaron Zilberman Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman/Christopher Walken/Catherine Keener/Mark Ivanir Music: Beethoven: String Quartet Op. 131 Moonrise Kingdom Director: Wes Anderson Cast: Bruce Willis/Bill Murray/Ed Norton/Frances McDormand Music: Britten: Noyes’ Flood/Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra/Songs for Friday Afternoons/A Midsummer Night’s Dream (excerpts) Films about classical music composers and performers are nearly always risible in the extreme. Think Song Without End (1960) with Dirk Bogarde as Liszt or Humoresque (1946) with John Garfield as an unlikely virtuoso…

Austin Symphony Takes Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring “Beyond the Score”

By Paul E. Robinson on 8 December 2012 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonStravinsky: Le Sacre du printemps (the Rite of Spring)Gerard McBurney, narratorRobert Faires, actorRick Rowley, actorAustin Symphony/Peter Bay, conductorDell Hall, Long Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasFriday, November 30, 2012For major orchestras, Stravinsky’s Le sacre du printempshas become standard fare, but for second and third tier orchestras it is still a huge challenge, for both technical and financial reasons: for the players, the rhythms and harmonies are difficult; for managers and boards, the costs for additional players and extra rehearsal time are not easy to swallow. The Austin Symphonyis a part-time per service orchestra, which nonetheless manages to play consistently…

Austin Symphony and Conspirare Partner to Present Psalm Settings by Stravinsky and Bernstein

By Paul E. Robinson on 28 May 2012 Baroque and Early, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul RobinsonMaestro Peter BayBach/Stokowski: Toccata and Fugue in D minor BWV 565*Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms**Bach-Stokowski: Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor BWV 582**Bernstein: Chichester Psalms*Conspirare Symphonic ChoirAustin Symphony OrchestraCraig Hella Johnson/ conductor*Peter Bay/ conductor**LongCenter for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasIt was a clever idea to program together two important Twentieth Century musical settings of psalms, one by Igor Stravinsky and the other by Leonard Bernstein. While the texts are drawn from the same source, the music could hardly be more different. Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms is cool and austere while Bernstein’s “Chichester Psalms” is emotional and more popular in style.…

Hans Graf/HSO: Two Faces of Shostakovich in Houston

By Paul E. Robinson on 15 May 2012 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul RobinsonPhoto by Craig Chesek/Carnegie HallShostakovich/Milman: Anti-Formalist RayokShostakovich: Symphony No. 11 in G minor Op. 103 “The Year 1905”Mikhail Svetlov, bassHouston Symphony/Hans GrafJones HallHouston, TexasMay 3, 2012Over 44 years ago, Leopold Stokowskiconducted the first North American performance of the Symphony No. 11 byShostakovich. Stokowski was then music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra (HSO) and had already conducted a number of important Shostakovich (photo: right) premieres. Around the time of those 1958 performances of Symphony No. 11, Stokowski and the HSO also made the first commercial recording of the piece.Hans Graf, the current music director of the Houston Symphony, is…

Sounds Unlikely: The Bohlen-Pierce System

By Marc Chénard on 1 April 2012 Classical Music, Contemporary, Interviews

Author : (Marc Chénard)

The story of microtonality might be as old as music itself. In non-Western music traditions, e.g. Indian Carnatic music or Arabic melismas, its use is commonplace. Western concert music, in contrast, is built on fixed pitches no closer together than the semitone and now commonly played with twelve-tone equal temperament, a device that effectively ‘rounded off’ minute tone differences. While still confined to its margins, microtonality is gaining new acceptance in our culture, as witnessed by a steadily growing body of works exploring these timbral possibilites. The Russian Ivan Wyschnegradsky was a true pioneer in this respect, writing piano…

“RachFest” a High Note for Graf, Gerstein, and the Houston Symphony!

By Paul E. Robinson on 25 January 2012 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonRachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 1Rachmaninov: Isle of the DeadRachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4Kirill Gerstein, pianoHouston Symphony: Hans Graf, conductorJones HallHouston, TexasSunday, January 15, 2012Symphony orchestras frequently mount “festivals” to package their wares more effectively, but I can’t remember ever coming across a Rachmaninov Festival, or “RachFest,” as they called it in Houston.Composer Sergei RachmaninovThere are usually two main reasons for classical music festivals: to celebrate artistic achievement and to fill seats. Whereas Beethoven and Mozart festivals have become so common and in the beginning at least were so lucrative that artistic purposes were almost beside the point, in the case of Houston’ s…

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