Browsing: Orchestral

It was recently announced that Quebec conductor Bernard Labadie would step down from his post as music director of Les Violons du Roy. He will become founding director, presumably a title which suggests far less conducting than in the past. Now comes an announcement this past week that Labadie has cancelled all conducting engagements through the rest of 2014 “for health reasons.”In the past few seasons Labadie has become incredibly busy as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world. He is an authority of historical performance practice and a very welcome guest conductor wherever he goes. We understand that…

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On June 4, 2014 Rafael Frübeck de Burgos announced his retirement. He was 80 years old and conducted his last concert on March 14 with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. Less than a week later the news from Spain is that he has passed away.Frübeck de Burgos had been in failing health for some time but it was only this month that he publicly stated that he was suffering from cancer. The celebrated Spanish conductor had a major international career and conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra more than 150 times. He had a close association with the Montreal Symphony and…

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The German-born conductor Franz-Paul Decker died in Montreal on May 19 at the age of 90. He was music director of the Montreal Symphony from 1967 to 1975 and returned often thereafter as a guest conductor. Just last season he had been scheduled to appear with the MSO – the main work was Richard Strauss’ massive An Alpine Symphony – but was forced to cancel due to ill health.Decker held many conducting posts in Europe throughout his career and he also had a close association with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Decker was highly regarded for his performances of the German…

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Berlioz was one of the most innovative orchestrators in the history of music. He had a genius for combining instruments to produce unusual sonorities, and for using individual instruments in original ways. In 1840 he wrote a piece for a brass band of 200 players to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the revolution of 1830. The first performance was given by a huge band marching through the streets of Paris and the sound must have been astonishing. And it still is! A few years later the composer added a chorus to the final movement Apotheosis.Performances of this Grande symphonie funebre…

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This past week Mariss Jansons, 71, announced his resignation from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, effective at the end of next season. Jansons has been the chief conductor of the RCO since 2004, and only the 6th chief conductor of this great orchestra in its long and illustrious history.Jansons has had major health problems since at least 1996 when he suffered a serious heart attack. In recent years he has cut back his long distance travel and limited his conducting to just a handful of orchestras, all of them in Europe.Jansons was born in Latvia but grew up in St. Petersburg…

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by Paul E. RobinsonLiszt: Les PréludesKorngold: Violin ConcertoDvořák: Symphony No. 7 in d Minor Op. 70Gil Shaham, violinAustin Symphony/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasWhen the still boyish Gil Shaham comes bounding on stage, violin in hand, with a huge smile on his face, you know you are in for a special kind of music-making. Shaham, now 43, still seems the charming prodigy he was when he first came to international attention. Before playing so much as a note, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. This is clearly a young man who loves music and…

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Last year Jaap van Zweden got a call from the Berlin Philharmonic to fill in for an ailing conductor. He did and made his debut with the BPO to great acclaim. And just last week, van Zweden got a call from another prestigious orchestra. This time it was the Vienna Philharmonic, and another conductor (Gustavo Dudamel) had fallen ill. Van Zweden made his debut with the VPO April 6 conducting the Bruckner Symphony No. 8.For several years now van Zweden has been a favorite guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony. In June this year he will lead three weeks of concerts devoted to…

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In 2011 Lady Solti donated her late husband’s scores and papers to Harvard University. The Sir Georg Solti Archive is now a treasure trove for scholars and young conductors interested in the legacy of one of the greatest conductors of the Twentieth Century.Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997) was born in Budapest and was trained as a pianist. But his talent for conducting soon emerged and after the war he began his career working in German opera houses. He came to the attention of Decca producer John Culshaw and was soon involved in the company’s project to record the first Ring cycle…

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Gustavo Dudamel was recently in Canada conducting several concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. By most accounts these concerts devoted to symphonies by Corigliano and Tchaikovsky were hugely impressive. Meanwhile, in Austin, TX, in the aftermath of the annual SXSW Festival, the Austin Symphony presented a rare showing of the film Redes with music by Silvestre Revueltas. This fine Mexican composer died in 1940 at the age of 40, and it was a tragic loss. Revueltas was destined to be one of the major composers of his generation. Among his finest orchestral works is Sensemaya, a pounding, surging piece influenced by…

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Latvian-born conductor Andris Nelsons seems to be everywhere these days, and everywhere he goes he leaves a positive impression. Here is a conductor who is technically brilliant and totally involved in the music he loves. On top of that, he is charismatic too. No wonder the Boston Symphony signed him up as their next music director. Just a week ago he was in Boston announcing the orchestra’s 2014-2015 season and conducting performances of Strauss’ Salome. A few days later he was in New York leading the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. Then it is back to Birmingham, England where he…

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