Orchestral - my/maSCENA

Nagano-OSM Week at Orford an Impressive Affair

By Paul E. Robinson on 11 August 2011 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonWhen the Knowlton Festival folded two years ago, the Orchestre symphonique de Montreal (OSM) and its chief conductor, Kent Nagano, needed to find an alternative venue for some of their summer music-making. An inspired choice was the Orford Festival. While last season’s appearances were uneven, this summer everything came together and the results were impressive.Last summer at Orford, the OSM gave two full concerts under Nagano, who also worked with the Orford Academy Orchestra (OAO) on a third concert. The venue for all three performances was the Saint-Patrice Church in Magog. This year, the OSM gave only…

A Tale of Two Festivals: Castleton and BlackCreek

By Paul E. Robinson on 14 July 2011 Concert Reviews, Opera, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonEvery summer Marita and I drive from Austin, Texas back to our native Canada, varying our route each year according to events of particular interest on the road and the availability of friends we enjoy visiting.This year we decided to make a stop in Charlottesville, Virginia, a favourite place we hadn’t visited in too many years. This charming, lively, petite (pop: 40,000) mountain town is home to the University of Virginia where we fondly recalled once having inspected the tiny room inhabited by Edgar Allen Poe during his short tenure as a student here. The literary stature…

Sierra’s “Missa Latina” Wins New Friends in Texas

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 July 2011 Choral, Concert Reviews, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonRoberto Sierra (photo: above) was born in Puerto Rico and studied with György Ligeti in Germany. Since 1992 he has been a member of the faculty of music at Cornell University, and is widely recognized as one of the leading composers of his generation.Sierra’s Missa Latina “Pro Pace” (For Peace) was commissioned by Washington’s National Symphony and the Choral Arts Society, and Leonard Slatkin conducted the premiere with those combined ensembles in 2006. Since that time the work has been performed in major cities around the United States, each time with great success.Craig Hella Johnson (photo: right)…

Italian Concertos

By La Scena Musicale Team on 15 June 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Winds

Alison Balsom, trompette; Scottish Ensemble EMI 4560942 (61 min 46 s) HHHHII Depuis dix ans, la charmante Alison Balsom a su convaincre le monde de la musique classique que la trompette virtuose, chasse gardée majoritairement masculine depuis toujours, pouvait resplendir de mille feux sous les doigts prestes et alertes d’une jeune femme d’à peine une trentaine d’années. Mme Balsom possède une technique fluide et assurée et elle dispose surtout d’une belle sonorité ample et nette qui ne brille pas exagérément dans l’aigu, ce qui donne à ses interprétations un aspect coussiné, mais sans mièvrerie. Le programme présenté sur ce disque…

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…

Mahler: Symphonies Nos 1-10

By La Scena Musicale Team on 14 June 2011 CD and Book Reviews, Orchestral, Romantic

Vocal soloists; Schweizer Kammerchor; Zürcher Sängerknaben; WDR Rundfunkchor Köln; Kinderchor Kaltbrunn; Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich/David Zinman RCA Red Seal 88697 72723-2 (15 Hybrid SACD – 794 min 24 s/ DVD 80 min) ***** It used to be that a Mahler symphony cycle on record typically required a decade or more to complete. The sessions for this set began in 2006 and concluded last year. RCA threw in super audio (playable on conventional CD decks) recording and launched the cycle with military precision in 2007. The performances reached collectors in sequence, at mid-price and in short order. The appearance of this lavish…

Big, Bold & Beautiful: Dallas Symphony and Chorus in Beethoven 9th!

By Paul E. Robinson on 30 May 2011 Classical, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonThe Beethoven Ninth Symphony is one of the most overplayed pieces in orchestral literature, but it sells tickets by the bushel and managers seldom go wrong, even when programming it season after season. To call it “overplayed” is not to say that it isn’t a great work or that it doesn’t bring out the best in conductors and orchestras; indeed it is and indeed it does. These facts took me back to Dallas recently to hear Jaap van Zweden and the Dallas Symphony (DSO) engage with the Ninth in the Meyerson Symphony Center.Van Zweden recorded all the…

Pitcairn and “Red Violin” CHAMPS in Austin, Texas!

By Paul E. Robinson on 13 April 2011 Chamber Music, Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonA lingering recession is the worst of times for the arts generally and for music education specifically. Hardly a day goes by without more news of cuts to funding of orchestras, theatres, art galleries, museums and schools. The bad news, however, is often offset by good news; for example, the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto, Canada) just announced a partnership with Carnegie Hall to introduce a national system of study and assessment in the U.S. modeled after the RCM’s comprehensive and highly respected programme, and the Venezuelan movement called El Sistema has taken root in the United…

DSO and van Zweden: A Persuasive “Manfred” in Dallas!

By Paul E. Robinson on 5 April 2011 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonMy first encounter with Tchaikovsky’s Manfred Symphony was most likely Toscanini’s 1953 recording with the NBC Symphony; it is intense, exciting and almost life-changing in its range of emotion. The sound of the recording left a lot to be desired, of course, but for its time, this was a great performance.Over the years, although I rarely encountered Manfred in the concert hall, I continued to check out fresh performances and new recordings; unfortunately, not one of them could hold a candle to the Toscanini – until, that is, now.This extraordinary performance was live, and I may have…

Dudamel and “La Phil LIVE” Connect with Shakespeare and Tchaikovsky!

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 April 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Theatre

by Paul E. RobinsonThe Los Angeles Philharmonic has always been an enterprising organization, and especially so with impresario Ernest Fleishmann in charge. Today, under the leadership of current president Deborah Borda and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, it is breaking new ground in all kinds of ways; for example, Dudamel is bringing the concept of El Sistema from Venezuela to the poorer neighbourhoods of Los Angeles, and the LA Phil is the first American orchestra to begin streaming live concerts into movie theatres. The second of these “LA Phil LIVE” performances, devoted to three Tchaikovsky symphonic poems inspired by Shakespeare, was presented…

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