Piano - my/maSCENA

Bay and Austin Symphony Celebrate Virtuosity!

By Paul E. Robinson on 28 November 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano

By Paul E. RobinsonGinastera: Variaciones concertantes Op. 23Franck: Symphonic Variations for Piano and Orchestra M. 46Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major S.125Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis on Themes by Carl Maria von WeberAnton Nel: pianoAustin Symphony Orchestra (ASO): Peter Bay, conductorMichael and Susan Dell HallLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin. TexasSaturday, November 19, 2011Boulez: Mémoriale Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major Op. 19 Bruckner: Symphony No. 4 in E flat major Timothy Hutchins, flute Till Fellner, piano Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM): Kent Nagano, conductorLa Maison symphonique Place des ArtsMontréalSaturday, October 15, 2011It is an indication of…

Nagano & OSM Show off New Hall with Towering Turangalîla

By Paul E. Robinson on 20 September 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonTchaikovsky (orch.Glazunov): Méditation in D minor Op.42 No.1Glazunov: Violin Concerto in A minor Op. 82Messiaen: Turangalîla-SymphonieJoshua Bell: violinAngela Hewitt: pianoJean Laurendeau: ondes martenotOrchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM): Kent Nagano, conductorLa Maison symphoniquePlace des ArtsMontréal, QuebecSeptember 13, 2011Ever since its premiere in 1949, audiences have been moved and thrilled by Olivier Messiaen’s massive Turangalîla Symphony. More than 60 years later, it remains an extraordinarily original and peculiar piece. Montreal has heard it before – Charles Dutoit championed the piece in 2000 at Place des Arts. Kent Nagano has a special relationship with the composer and his music, and…

The Canadian Music Competition: 2011 Grand Prize winners

By La Scena Musicale Team on 12 July 2011 Piano, Violin, Vocal

By Rona NadlerThe Canadian Music Competition has announced its 2011 Grand Prize winners. Over two hundred young musicians from all over the country competed in the finals, held in Montreal from June 20-July 4. Grand Prizes for each age category were awarded to Kirsten MacKinnon, soprano (Burnaby, BC), Jason Kangsan Lee, piano (Missisauga, ON), Nicole Li, violin (Toronto, ON), Stephen Nguyen, piano (Calgary, AB), and Tiffany Yeung, violin (Richmond Hill, ON). The winners will give three performances with the Orchestre Métropolitain under the baton of Alain Trudel: a gala concert on July 14 at Centre Pierre-Charbonneau, at Parc La Fontaine…

John Adams Portrait

By La Scena Musicale Team on 15 June 2011 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Strings

Angèle Dubeau, violon; Louise Bessette, piano; La Pietà Analekta AN 2 8732 (60 min 36 s) ***** Le compositeur américain John Adams s’illustre principalement dans le domaine de l’opéra et de la musique symphonique. Or, Angèle Dubeau et son ensemble La Pietà s’intéressent ici à son répertoire de musique de chambre avec pour résultat un disque très bien ficelé. Le duo pour violon et piano Road Movies est ici interprété avec la fougue qu’il mérite tandis que le quatuor à cordes John’s Book of Alleged Dances est présenté avec toute la fantaisie que le compositeur lui a conférée (on regrette…

Lang Lang and Roberto Alagna Share the Stage

By La Scena Musicale Team on 5 April 2011 Art Song, Piano, Uncategorized

by Frank CadenheadIt was a high-risk venture that finished as a major triumph in Paris on Tuesday night (March 29, 2011). The superstar pianist Lang Lang, as part of a week’s residency, joined with the French tenor Roberto Alagna in a program of rare French arias at the historic Salle Pleyel. But the success of this “carte blanche” evening for Lang Lang was not automatically assured.The French have a history of neglecting their rich musical heritage and the arias, with one exception, have not been heard in Paris in living memory. While some of this repertory is beginning to appear…

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…

Eschenbach, Lang Lang and the SHFO Give Austin a Show to Remember!

By Paul E. Robinson on 27 April 2010 Concert Reviews, Piano

by Paul E. RobinsonThere is no one hotter in the world of classical music today than Chinese pianist Lang Lang. What a coup for Maestro Christoph Eschenbach and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra (SHFO) that he agreed to be the featured soloist on their first North American tour! In this extraordinarily long tour of twenty-three concerts in thirty-two days, Lang Lang played concertos by Prokofiev, Mozart and Beethoven, with Eschenbach at the podium. I caught up with this remarkable road show at the Long Center in Austin, Texas.An Intimate Destination for Music Festival ConnoisseursThe Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival is based in Salzau…

Pressler at Pollack

By La Scena Musicale Team on 18 March 2010 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Piano

By Hannah Rahimi and Kali HalapuaThe 86 year-old Menahem Pressler appeared last night at Pollack Hall before a packed house of appreciative musicians and music lovers. A generous performer, Pressler smiled throughout the evening, possessed with a twinkling energy that fueled his playing and spread throughout the audience. Well-programmed, the concert consisted of Dvorak’s Quintet in A Major, Op. 81, performed with the Cecilia String Quartet, McGill’s graduate quartet in residence, followed by Schubert’s beloved “Trout” quintet, performed with McGill faculty members, Jonathan Crow (violin), Douglas McNabney (viola), Matt Haimovitz (cello) and Ali Yazdanfar (double bass).The young Cecilia Quartet presented…

Rach 3 Rocks with Nissman and the Austin Symphony!

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 March 2010 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Piano

by Paul E. RobinsonLast week, at the Long Center for the Performing Arts, Peter Bay and the Austin Symphony presented an all-Russian program: Rachmaninov’s Vocalise, followed by the Rachmaninov Piano Concerto No. 3, and closing with the Shostakovich Symphony No. 5, the Russian composer’s most popular symphony.As always, Maestro Bay had prepared well and interpreted the music with assurance and without exaggeration of any kind. In the opening piece, Vocalise, Bay went for a nuanced, understated beauty that suited this slight work very well. Personally, I would like to hear more expansive phrasing in some sections, but then I may…

Pianist Anton Kuerti’s Beethoven Mesmerizes UT Austin Audience

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 February 2010 Concert Reviews, Piano

by Paul E. RobinsonAnton Kuerti arrived in Canada in 1965, and Toronto has been his home base ever since. In that span of 45 years, this extraordinary artist has demonstrated time and again that he has no peer in the performance of the piano music of Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann. In Canada, Kuerti is a national treasure; in the United States, he has had an illustrious career, stemming from his student days in Cleveland and Philadelphia, to his now regular concertizing in America’s major cities. Those fortunate enough to be in McCullough Hall at the University of Texas (Austin) last…

Browsing: Piano