La Scena Online - my/maSCENA

Browsing: La Scena Online

La Scena Online is the digital magazine of La Scene Musicale.Contents: News, Concert reviews, CD reviews, Interviews, Obituaries, etc; Editor: Wah Keung Chan; Assistant Editor: Andreanne Venne
ISSN: 1206-9973

Lebrecht Weekly | Admirable Recording of Mahler Pioneers

By Norman Lebrecht on 3 January 2025 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly

The death of composer Alexander Goehr last August reminded obituarists of the vital contributions his refugee father Walter Goehr had made to insular British culture. Walter worked as a house conductor for EMI and for one of the BBC’s weaker orchestras. He is remembered chiefly for giving the 1953 UK premiere of Olivier Messiaen’s Turangalia Symphony, but he also introduced a gamut of novelties from Monteverdi to Mahler, Schoenberg and Stravinsky to Britten and Tippett. The first shock on hearing Das Klagende Lied and the fourth symphony is how intuitively he grasped Mahler’s unpredictable pauses and rhythmic shifts. He makes…

Cast of Koerner Hall's Into the Woods. Photo: RCM/Lisa Sakulensky

Review | Stellar cast enlivens flawed Into the Woods at Koerner Hall

By Gianmarco Segato on 31 December 2024 Concert Reviews, La Scena Online, Opera, Popular Music, Toronto, Vocal

The nearly 40-year-old musical Into the Woods, with music and lyrics by the legendary Stephen Sondheim and book by American playwright James Lapine, has become a staple on North American stages. Its appeal is clearly linked to an ingenious amalgamation of familiar characters from classic fairy tales like Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk. Their stories are utilised to deliver a universal message that boils down to “be careful what you wish for”. Koerner Hall has assembled a cast which includes the crème de la crème of Canadian musical theatre in a smartly-staged production by Richard…

Holly Chaplin in the title role of Toronto Operetta Theatre's Countess Maritza. Photo: Gary Beechey

Review | Toronto Operetta Theatre’s Marvellous Countess Maritza

By Gianmarco Segato on 30 December 2024 Concert Reviews, Opera, Toronto, Vocal

As is their tradition, Toronto Operetta Theatre livens up the in-between-Christmas-to-New Year lull with an annual production of a classic, golden age operetta. This year, it’s Hungarian composer Imre Kálmán’s Countess Maritza with its non-stop succession of great tunes and authentic czardas-infused rhythms. TOT can always be relied on to present some of the best young Canadian talent and this was certainly no exception at Dec. 29th’s opening performance. A Maritza that moves TOT’s General Director, Guillermo Silva-Marin is also the show’s stage director and he does a lot with comparatively modest means. Maritza’s country mansion is appropriately decorated with…

Photo: Busoni. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: cph 3c26592)

Lebrecht Weekly | Busoni’s Centenary: Recordings of Piano Works and Doctor Faust

By Norman Lebrecht on 27 December 2024 CD and Book Reviews, Lebrecht Weekly

What’s the point in having a centenary if it doesn’t restore a reputation? A hundred years have passed since the German-Italian Busoni died in Berlin and, while we’ve heard his massive piano concerto in concerthalls during 1924, nothing much else has happened to change the general perception that Busoni was a formidable pianist with great ideas that did not necessarily translate into music of lasting value. Two albums of piano works reinforce that image. The German pianist Wolf Harden has reached volume 13 in his Naxos trawl of the complete works. While awed by his persistence and dedication, I find…

Rose Naggar-Tremblay, contralto soloist in ArtChoral's Messiah. Photo: TamPhotography

Review | ArtChoral’s Messiah Preserves its Original Freshness

By Heather Weinreb on 24 December 2024 Baroque and Early, Choral, Concert Reviews, Montreal

Every holiday season, Handel’s Messiah comes to town. Not once, not twice, but many times. With all the options, how can an audience member decide which one to choose? On Dec. 22, ArtChoral and Ensemble Caprice delivered an inspiring performance of Handel’s Messiah. It seems that Juno award-winning conductor Matthias Maute takes avid delight in showcasing how old works can always sound new, so long as they are performed with technical precision, intentionality, and a lot of joyful energy. When Messiah season comes around next year, audiences would do well to consider ArtChoral’s version. What you missed? A Baroque oratorio,…

Magali Simard-Galdès & Olivier Bergeron with OSL. Photo: Gabriel Fournier

Review | Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s Holiday Program is in Tune with the Season

By Heather Weinreb on 23 December 2024 Concert Reviews, Montreal, Orchestral, Vocal

Putting on a Christmas concert is a challenge. The concert must feature enough time-worn classics to foster the holiday spirit; at the same time, every holiday concert strives to be fresh, even innovative. We don’t want to be fed the same “Jingle Bells” year after year, but we do want to hear music we recognize. On Dec. 18, Orchestre symphonique de Laval’s holiday concert offered many Christmas classics, from Leroy Andersen’s Christmas Festival to the beloved English carol, The Twelve Days of Christmas. But the concert also featured music by Georges Bizet and Gabriel Fauré that, while very melodious, is…

Anri Sala. Photo: MMFA, Sébastien Roy

To Ravel and Unravel Maurice Ravel at MMFA

By Viktor Lazarov on 23 December 2024 La Scena Online, La Scena Spotlight, Montreal, Piano, Visual Arts

What links French Impressionist composer Maurice Ravel with the Venice Biennale and American minimalist composer Steve Reich? Their association might seem tenuous, but they are intriguingly brought together in French-Albanian artist Anri Sala’s work Ravel Ravel Interval, currently exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). La Scena Musicale interviewed Assistant Curator of International Modern and Contemporary Art, Alexandrine Théorêt, to help us untangle the knots in this singular work. Acquired by patron Pierre Bourgie and pledged to the MMFA, Ravel Ravel Interval commemorates the 150th anniversary of the birth of Maurice Ravel (1875–1937). The 2024–2025 season also marks the…

Chor Leoni. Photo: Emily Cooper

Review | Christmas with Chor Leoni Brings Holiday Magic to the Heart of Vancouver

By Kaitlyn Chan on 20 December 2024 Choral, Classical Music, Concert Reviews, Piano, Strings, Vancouver, Violin, Vocal

Amidst the bustle of the holiday season, Chor Leoni ushered audience members into the serene atmosphere of St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church for their annual Christmas concert on Dec 19. The space was lit with reds, blues, and purples while golden lanterns hung from the ceiling. The beauty of the church was highlighted under this unique lighting, creating an almost fantasy effect within the large arches. Lighting designer Keagan Elrick had set the stage for the magical evening welcoming Chor Leoni’s largest-ever opening night audience. The first song of the evening was “The Long Night” arranged by founding member, Artistic Director,…

Lebrecht Weekly | Unknown Pieces for Multiple Pianos and Orchestra by Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Schubert and Liszt (Hyperion)

By Norman Lebrecht on 20 December 2024 Lebrecht Weekly

German composers don’t know how to have fun. Think no further than Mozart’s Musical Joke, or Beethoven’s fat-shaming of the violinist Schuppanzigh. Not funny at all. Not to mention Schumann and Brahms, or the feeble anti-critic jokes made by Wagner, Mahler and Richard Strauss. So it was in a wary frame of mind that I approached a frisky album of unknown pieces for multiple pianos and orchestra by Mendelssohn, Moscheles, Schubert and Liszt. Four-hand is where musicians share in-jokes. Was it a fun hour? Actually, not far from it. The first piece, by Mendelssohn and his pal Ignaz Moscheles, was…

Notre-Dame reopening: our music list

By Madeline Boldt on 20 December 2024 Classical, La Scena Online, Orchestral

Notre-Dame de Paris has long stood as the heart of France and became a powerful symbol of hope, unity, and faith following the fire in 2019. At the reopening ceremony on December 7, 2024, this spirit of renewal and togetherness was palpable, with the joyous sounds of orchestras, choirs, and the cathedral’s iconic 8,000-pipe organ filling the air. Below is a list of the music and musicians featured in the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame de Paris. Notre-Dame de Paris (Excerpts) (Arr. Pierre Bertrand-Cagnes), Richard Cocciante Garou (Guitar) Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France (Orchestra) Amazing Grace, William Walker Pretty Yende (Soprano)…

Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 … 150 Next

Current Issue

PDF HTML

Next Issue : April/May

Ad Deadline : March 21, 2025

Past Issues, Subscriptions, Advertising