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Browsing: Orchestral

Big, Bold & Beautiful: Dallas Symphony and Chorus in Beethoven 9th!

By Paul E. Robinson on 30 May 2011 Classical, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonThe Beethoven Ninth Symphony is one of the most overplayed pieces in orchestral literature, but it sells tickets by the bushel and managers seldom go wrong, even when programming it season after season. To call it “overplayed” is not to say that it isn’t a great work or that it doesn’t bring out the best in conductors and orchestras; indeed it is and indeed it does. These facts took me back to Dallas recently to hear Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony (DSO) engage with the Ninth in the Meyerson Symphony Center.Van Zweden recorded all the…

Pitcairn and “Red Violin” CHAMPS in Austin, Texas!

By Paul E. Robinson on 13 April 2011 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonA lingering recession is the worst of times for the arts generally and for music education specifically. Hardly a day goes by without more news of cuts to funding of orchestras, theatres, art galleries, museums and schools. The bad news, however, is often offset by good news; for example, the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto, Canada) just announced a partnership with Carnegie Hall to introduce a national system of study and assessment in the U.S. modeled after the RCM’s comprehensive and highly respected programme, and the Venezuelan movement called El Sistema has taken root in the United…

DSO and van Zweden: A Persuasive “Manfred” in Dallas!

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 April 2011 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonMy first encounter with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony was most likely Toscanini’s 1953 recording with the NBC Symphony; it is intense, exciting and almost life-changing in its range of emotion. The sound of the recording left a lot to be desired, of course, but for its time, this was a great performance.Over the years, although I rarely encountered Manfred in the concert hall, I continued to check out fresh performances and new recordings; unfortunately, not one of them could hold a candle to the Toscanini – until, that is, now.This extraordinary performance was live, and I may have…

Dudamel and “La Phil LIVE” Connect with Shakespeare and Tchaikovsky!

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 April 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Theatre

by Paul E. RobinsonThe Los Angeles Philharmonic has always been an enterprising organization, and especially so with impresario Ernest Fleishmann in charge. Today, under the leadership of current president Deborah Borda and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, it is breaking new ground in all kinds of ways; for example, Dudamel is bringing the concept of El Sistema from Venezuela to the poorer neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, and the LA Phil is the first American orchestra to begin streaming live concerts into movie theatres. The second of these “LA Phil LIVE” performances, devoted to three Tchaikovsky symphonic poems inspired by Shakespeare, was presented…

Nagano’s New Recording of Beethoven’s Third a Triumph

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 March 2011 Classical, Concert Reviews, Orchestral

Beethoven: Gods, Heroes, and MenThe Creatures of Prometheus/Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Kent NaganoAnalekta AN2 9838 (73 min 51 s)****It is a sign of the times that the MSO has no major label willing to produce its CDs. Many fine orchestras are in the same situation and several of them – San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Toronto Symphony, etc. – have taken to producing their own recordings. Fortunately, the Canadian record company Analekta, with the help of the Department of Canadian Heritage, has been putting together several MSO projects. The latest venture, like the first…

Liszt’s 200th All Icing No Cake!

By Paul E. Robinson on 22 March 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano

by Paul E. RobinsonNot even the greatest of composers has left the world a portfolio of only masterpieces – a case in point being Franz Liszt (1811- 1886), undoubtedly one of the most famous composers who ever lived.The Austin Symphony recently celebrated the Liszt bicentennial by programming the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz for piano and orchestra; the former remains solidly in the standard repertoire, while the latter barely qualifies for even an occasional performance.Music director Peter Bay was hedging his bets in honouring Liszt. He gave us two Liszt works for piano and orchestra with Italian pianist…

Anne Akiko Meyers Gives Austin Prokofiev with Passion!

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 March 2011 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Violin

by Paul E. Robinson It was just over a year ago that Austin music lovers last heard Anne Akiko Meyers (photo: above) in an imaginative and brilliantly played recital at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas. Meyers had recently been appointed to the faculty at the school and – with a baby on the way – she and her husband had decided to move to Austin. What a coup for the school, its students and Austinites! We all looked forward to hearing Meyers on a regular basis; unfortunately, even the most carefully planned relationships don’t always…

Victoires de la Musique Classique in France

By La Scena Musicale Team on 16 February 2011 La Scena Spotlight, Orchestral

By Frank Cadenhead The prime-time live telecast Monday night, February 14, of the French show Victoires de la Musique Classique was already good news. This is the top awards show for classical music in France, comparable to America’s Grammy awards, and it focuses mainly on French artists. But in competition with other shows on the major channels, its traditionally weak ratings always cause talk of taping it and showing it on off hours. This year, from the convention center in the city of Nantes, it headlined the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire and their engaging young American conductor, John…

Austin Symphony’s New World “Beyond the Score”

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 January 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral

By Paul E. Robinson It is always a difficult business to “educate” the classical music audience without talking down to them on the one hand or talking over their heads on the other, and while some subscribers welcome non-musical elements in a concert, others hate them.The Austin Symphony and conductor Peter Bay deserve full marks for making a valiant effort to both educate and entertain at their Long Center concert last week.In the first half of the concert, we were given some background on the piece courtesy of the Chicago Symphony’s (CSO) Beyond the Score series, a multi-media production incorporating…

Austin Symphony Celebrates Mexico!

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 November 2010 Orchestral, World Music

by Paul E. RobinsonLast weekend (November 19 and 20) the Austin Symphony under music director Peter Bay presented an all-Mexican programme. And there was a good reason for it. This year, Mexico is celebrating the 200th anniversary of its independence, and the 100th anniversary of its revolution. A big year for Mexico and President Calderon duly named it “Año de la Patria.”Surprisingly, given the inspiration for this concert, there was virtually nothing in the programme book to let the audience know what it was all about. All we got were the cryptic words “Mexico’s 200/100” on the main programme page.…

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