Orchestral - my/maSCENA

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 January 2014 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic, Strings

Elgar Conducts Elgar The Complete Recordings 1914-1925, Elgar: Symphony No. 2/Violin Concerto (Marie Hall)/Cello Concerto (Beatrice Harrison)/Sea Pictures (Leila Megane)/Cockaigne Overture/In the South Overture, etc. Symphony Orchestra/Royal Albert Hall Orchestra/Sir Edward Elgar Producer & Transfer/Restoration Engineer: Lani Spahr Music & Arts CD-1257(4)(296 m 2 s)For collectors this is a gold mine of historic recordings. For music lovers – not so much. These are recordings from the acoustical era, and Elgar went on to make much better-sounding recordings of nearly all the same pieces using the electrical microphone. Frankly, ploughing through many of these performances is almost painful. Given the primitive…

Leonard Bernstein: Historical Recordings 1941-1961

By Paul E. Robinson on 23 December 2013 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral

Schumann: Symphony No. 2/Shostakovich: Symphony No. 5 and Symphony No. 7/Mahler: Symphony No. 2/Beethoven: Symphony No. 9/Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring/Chavez: Symphony No. 4/Harris: American Creed, etc.Boston Symphony Orchestra/New York Philharmonic/Leonard BernsteinAudio Restoration: Lani SpahrWest Hill Radio Archives WHRA-6048 (11 CDs)*****Bernstein has been dead for over 22 years and nearly everything he recorded has been released and re-released. Dozens of broadcasts have been made available too. But there are still treasures to be found. This latest release contains invaluable rehearsal excerpts and some wonderful broadcasts with the Boston Symphony.Bernstein was a protégé of BSO music director Serge Koussevitsky and Bernstein…

Video of the Day – Celibidache Conducts Enesco

By Paul E. Robinson on 16 December 2013 Orchestral, Video of the day

I first saw Sergiu Celibidache conduct in 1969. It was at the Helsinki Festival with the Swedish Radio Symphony. I was amazed at his ability to control every detail of the music he conducted. And he was a charismatic figure, especially in the encores. He danced, he shouted, he did everything but stand on his head. As the years went by he became less flamboyant but his tempi got slower and slower. His demands for extra rehearsal time became more and more outrageous, to the point where few orchestras would hire him. It didn’t help that he talked incessantly during…

Mahler: Symphony No. 6

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 December 2013 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic

Mahler: Symphony No. 6Dallas Symphony Orchestra/Jaap van ZwedenDSO Live DSOL-5***** This is the latest release from the Dallas Symphony on its own label. It dates from March 2013 during a week of highly acclaimed live performances of the work at the Myerson Symphony Center. Shortly afterwards, van Zweden and the DSO embarked on a European tour; again the Mahler Sixth was prominently featured. This recording documents the best of both orchestra and conductor. After several seasons as music director in Dallas, van Zweden has been able to add some first-class musicians to the band and to shape the ensemble to…

Video of the Day – Rattle and the BPO Play Britten’s War Requiem

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 December 2013 Choral, Contemporary, Orchestral, Video of the day

November 22 was the 100th anniversary of the birth of Benjamin Britten. During his lifetime Britten was recognized as one of the foremost composers of the Twentieth Century. Since his death his reputation has grown even more. The operas are performed regularly in most of the world’s leading opera houses and his vocal music is often heard in recitals and in churches.Britten developed a style that was contemporary but never academic. He had a great lyrical gift and a talent for expressing the meaning of words through music.In this 100th anniversary year his music is being celebrated throughout the world.…

Dallas Symphony Pays Tribute to JFK with New Work by Conrad Tao

By Paul E. Robinson on 7 December 2013 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Piano

By Paul E. RobinsonTao: The world is very different now (world premiere)Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D minor Op. 47Milhaud: Murder of a Great Chief of State Op. 405Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E flat major Op. 55, “Eroica”Joshua Bell, violinDallas Symphony Orchestra/Jaap van ZwedenMeyerson Symphony CenterDallas, TexasNovember 23, 2013Across America and around the world, individuals and organizations paused on November 22 to reflect on the 50thanniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (JFK). In Dallas, Texas, the occasion had special significance because it was in that city that the murder took place. In remembrance of President Kennedy, The Dallas…

Video of the Day – Chronological Survey of Beethoven Eroica Symphony Recordings

By Paul E. Robinson on 26 November 2013 Classical, Orchestral, Video of the day

There have been dozens of recordings of Beethoven’s Eroica Symphony made over the years. The first one dates from the 1920s. It would be a daunting task to listen to them all and make detailed comparisons. But someone has gone to the trouble of taking just the two opening chords and comparing performances of them in chronological order. No commentary is offered. You’ll have to draw your own conclusions. What does it all mean? Probably very little. It would be foolish to compare performances of the Eroica Symphony, a work lasting about 45 minutes, just based on what the conductor…

Video of the Day – The Dallas Symphony and JFK

By Paul E. Robinson on 17 November 2013 Contemporary, Orchestral, Piano, Video of the day

It was 50 years ago, November 22, 1963, that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas. Dallas remembers that terrible day with commemorative events throughout November this year. Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony are presenting special concerts for the occasion. In this video conductor Jaap van Zweden talks about what the tribute means to him and to Dallas. He also discusses a new work written for these concerts by Conrad Tao.Paul E. Robinson

Video of the Day – On the Road Again With the NY Philharmonic

By Paul E. Robinson on 10 November 2013 Orchestral, Video of the day

Principal Trumpet Philip Smith of the NY Philharmonic recently announced that he was stepping down from his post at the end of this season. Smith is renowned as one of the great trumpeters of his generation, and has been one of the glories of the NY Philharmonic for decades. The man who sits beside him in the orchestra, Joseph Alessi, the principal trombone player, is equally celebrated. The two of them are good friends and share the same sense of humour. In this video we see them on tour with the orchestra in Vienna, and they are trying to find…

Video of the Day – Alexander Shelley Conducts Sibelius

By Paul E. Robinson on 6 November 2013 Orchestral, Romantic, Video of the day

The National Arts Centre Orchestra has a new conductor. Pinchas Zukerman is stepping down and Alexander Shelley is taking over. Shelley is not a household name but he has built a respectable career, mostly in Germany. He was born in London in 1979 and takes the reins of the NACO starting in September, 2015.In this video Shelley conducts Gustavo Dudamel’s Simon Bolivar Orchestra in Venezuela, in an excerpt from the Symphony No. 2 by Sibelius.Paul E. Robinson

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