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Browsing: Romantic

David Jacques: Deuxième album solo chez ATMA

By Justin Bernard on 5 June 2021 CD and Book Reviews, Romantic

Concert after concert, record after record, David Jacques continues to share “guitar stories” with his collection of instruments. In February, he was accompanied by I Musici de Montréal in a live webcast concert. On June 6, he will perform in recital at the Centre d’Art La Chapelle in Quebec City. A first volume was issued last year by ATMA Classique. Fourteen guitars were featured. This time, 15 guitars are presented, along with nearly 30 19th-century pieces to showcase them. Little-known composers Among the composers on this second solo album, the guitarist especially appreciates Ernest Shand, an Englishman from the end…

Photo: Antoine Saito

Yannick, OM make a live-audience comeback

By Arthur Kaptainis on 28 March 2021 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic

Might catch on, this idea of attending concerts in person. Such is my prediction after Yannick Nézet-Séguin and his Orchestre Métropolitain performed in the Maison symphonique on March 27, the day after such events became legal in Montreal. There were 250 well-distanced people in this hall that in better times accommodates more than 2,000. The outpouring of love made it a sellout in spirit. Getting in and out of the place involved a bit of a rigmarole – I was advised by security before entering that I was wearing my mask inside-out – and with no printed program to consult…

George Bridgetower

The “Kreutzer” Sonata: Friendhip and Transgression

By Jacqueline Vanasse on 29 January 2021 Classical Music, La Scena Spotlight, Romantic

Much the most admired of Beethoven’s 10 Violin Sonatas is the ninth, which we know as the “Kreutzer.” It could just as logically be called the “Bridgetower,” and might have been so, had an unfortunate disagreement not intervened. George Bridgetower (1778-1860) gave the first performance with the composer at the piano and was probably on track to be the first dedicatee. Our evidence for this is an inscription on the autograph1 by the composer, which can be translated as: “Mulatto sonata composed for the mulatto Bridgetower, great madman and great mulatto composer.” Despite the apparently humourous tone, Beethoven’s admiration for…

Lebrecht Weekly: Good Night! (Erato)

By Norman Lebrecht on 1 January 2021 Lebrecht Weekly, Piano, Romantic

Musical lullabies can quickly outlast their welcome. Everybody’s had the Brahms Wiegenlied sung to them at some point in infancy and many have experienced the sleepy time duet in Hansel and Gretel, the one they sing just before the witch becomes their nightmare. But one hearing is usually all I can bear of these bonbons. The beauty of this compilation by the French pianist Bertrand Chamayou is that it leads the ear down unexpected paths – some overgrown like Janacek’s crystalline opener, others unexpected, neglected or altogether unknown. Two etudes by Sergei Liapunov are drops of perfect chamomile. A dollop…

Today’s Streams: Dec. 31st

By La Scena Musicale Team on 31 December 2020 Classical Music, Opera, Romantic

Here are today’s streamed concerts you shouldn’t miss! Enjoy. This feature will run until January 1, 2021. To submit your event, please email [email protected] The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie – Holiday Season Concert Nicolas Ellis and l’Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie The Orchestre de chambre de la Montérégie, under the musical direction of Nicolas Ellis, accompanied by dancers from the École supérieure de ballet du Québec, are pleased to share their first webcast production. This initiative allows the organization to pursue its mission of providing access to music and the performing arts to a greater number of…

Vancouver Symphony LiveStreams Beethoven Sixth Symphony on March 15

By Newswire on 14 March 2020 Orchestral, Romantic

A SPECIAL INVITATION FROM THE VSO Dear friends, colleagues, ticket holders and supporters, Last weekend the VSO opened BeethovenFest with Maestro Tausk leading a triumphant performance of Beethoven, Shostakovich, and our own Rodney Sharman. Monday saw a superb VSO chamber concert and Wednesday an innovative and vibrant VSO debut performance at none other than the Commodore. Then everything changed. On Thursday, as a result of the recent ban on mass gatherings implemented by BC Health, the VSO along with many BC arts organizations had to cancel our public performances. As we begin to come to terms with the immense impact…

Photo: Jag Gundu

Toronto Symphony’s Valentine’s Program Sweet

By Denise Lai on 16 February 2020 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano, Romantic

Toronto, February 16, 2020—The Toronto Symphony performed its Valentine’s program to a full house last night featuring some of the most romantic classical music ever written. What you missed? The concert opened with the Canadian premiere of American composer Elizabeth Ogonek’s “As though birds.” The work was inspired by a three-line stanza from a poem by Jonathan Dubow. Though only three-and-a-half minutes long, it is densely packed with an immense range of orchestral timbres, with moods alternating between melancholy and euphoria. Elim Chan, Stephen Hough, Photo: Jag Gundu Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor, a work that epitomizes…

Photo: Mireille Caza

Airat Ichmouratov: The Neo-Romantic with a Passion for Klezmer

By Hassan Laghcha on 7 February 2020 Orchestral, Romantic

His favorite repertoire includes works by great Russian composers including Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky and Borodin. “It’s in my blood. I grew up in Russia with this music,” says composer and conductor Airat Ichmouratov. He also admires romantics like Mahler, Strauss and Wagner: “The compositions of these great German musicians are enormously inspiring.” This brilliant representative of the new generation is entirely onboard the current trend of composers finding inspiration in works from the romantic tradition. Charms of Tonal Music Ichmouratov affirms his preference for tonal music, like many composers of his generation. “Obviously, the audience really enjoys tonal…

Photo: Francois Goupil

Orchestre Métropolitain Makes a Brilliant Debut in a Special Place

By Arthur Kaptainis on 23 November 2019 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera, Orchestral, Romantic

NEW YORK – It is possible to lose a sense of perspective after a good night of Bruckner. The critic in me urges caution. Best live Fourth Symphony I have heard in months! My heart suggests something a little less guarded. Best in…well, quite a while. Certainly the performance ranks among the signal achievements in the history of the Orchestre Métropolitain, which on Friday made its third stop on a four-city U.S. tour and, not incidentally, its debut at Carnegie Hall. You can imagine a new punch line to the old gag about how you get there: by having Yannick…

Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn at the piano. Photo: Getty

Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn: Cello-piano works (Pentatone)

By Norman Lebrecht on 5 October 2019 Chamber Music, Lebrecht Weekly, Romantic

The near-symbiotic relationship between Mendelssohn and his older sister, examined in my forthcoming book Genius and Anxiety, was so central to both musicians’ lives that Felix was felled by a stroke on hearing of Fanny’s death and died before the year was out. Fanny, the first to evince musical talent, was silenced by their father as she neared puberty in order not to deflect attention from her genius kid brother. In her 30s she found a publisher and began – to Felix’s chagrin – to produce chamber music. His anger abated on finding that the music was of high quality.…