Franz Liszt
+ This is one the world has been waiting for: Norman Lebrecht reviews the Minnesota Orchestra’s final disc of their Sibelius cycle.
+ Shanghai Opera brings Thunderstorm to London. Read a review by the Financial Times here.
+ A recent biography about Liszt by Oliver Hilmes might simply be unnecessary. Read a review of the book here.
“The weight of biographical commentary on Liszt is simply colossal. People have been writing full-length accounts of him since he was in his early 20s, and touring 1830s Europe. The first biographies written with the declared aim of stripping away accumulated myths appeared within Liszt’s lifetime, and have gone on being published ever since. Besides, in very recent times, he has been the subject of a truly great biography, Alan Walker’s astonishing and gloriously entertaining three-volume study, still in print. Oliver Hilmes wrote a very good life of Liszt’s appalling daughter, Cosima Wagner; I must say that I think his abilities would have been better directed elsewhere.”
+ Read a review of the Welsh National Youth Opera’s production of Kommilitonen!, Peter Maxwell Davies’s 2011 opera for young singers.
+ An opera based on the life of Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong is causing some controversy.
“A Cantonese opera production revolving around the private life of late Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong will premiere in Hong Kong on Oct. 1. Already, it’s stirring up controversy in a city torn between increasing control from Beijing and the rise of “localists” advocating for more independence.
The show, entitled Chairman Mao, may come as a shock to many, as it seems to glorify the strongman.”
+ Take a musical trip to Venice with The Guardian.
+ Anne-Carolyn Bird has been appointed as Executive/Artistic Coordinator of Virginia Opera.
+ Video of the Day – Pastrami, Gag Mustard, and Flute Sonatas (noncerto).
+ This Day in Music – 1856: Death of Robert Schumann.
