Classical Music - my/maSCENA

Video of the Day – Salonen Teams Up with Apple

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 June 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

Esa-Pekka Salonen, principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and former music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, is one of the world’s foremost conductors. But he is equally renowned as a composer. One can only imagine how he manages to find time to be so active and so successful in both activities.Salonen is a fine musician but he is also a man of his time. He is curious about everything in life, and especially fascinated with technology that can make him even more productive as a conductor and a composer. He has recently joined forces with Apple to make use…

Video of the Day – Bernard Labadie In Munich

By Paul E. Robinson on 17 June 2014 Baroque and Early, Orchestral, Video of the day, Vocal

It was recently announced that Quebec conductor Bernard Labadie would step down from his post as music director of Les Violons du Roy. He will become founding director, presumably a title which suggests far less conducting than in the past. Now comes an announcement this past week that Labadie has cancelled all conducting engagements through the rest of 2014 “for health reasons.”In the past few seasons Labadie has become incredibly busy as a guest conductor with orchestras around the world. He is an authority of historical performance practice and a very welcome guest conductor wherever he goes. We understand that…

Video of the Day – A Great Conductor: RIP

By Paul E. Robinson on 9 June 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

On June 4, 2014 Rafael Frübeck de Burgos announced his retirement. He was 80 years old and conducted his last concert on March 14 with the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. Less than a week later the news from Spain is that he has passed away.Frübeck de Burgos had been in failing health for some time but it was only this month that he publicly stated that he was suffering from cancer. The celebrated Spanish conductor had a major international career and conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra more than 150 times. He had a close association with the Montreal Symphony and…

Video of the Day – Serhiy Salov Plays Debussy

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 June 2014 Piano, Video of the day

SUDDEN FLASHES OF LIGHT from Santiago Ruiztorres on Vimeo.Serhiy Salov is a Ukrainian-born pianist now living in Montreal. He won the 2004 Montreal International Competition and has established himself as an exceptional artist. In this video he plays his own arrangement of Debussy’s Fetes (Festivals). The playing is remarkable enough but what makes this video even more memorable is the direction by Santiago Ruiztorres. The camera work and the editing is imaginative, to say the least. Videos of this sort can sometimes seem gimmicky and contrived, telling us more about the film-maker’s self-absorption than about the performer or the music. Not…

Video of the Day – Franz-Paul Decker: In Memoriam

By Paul E. Robinson on 26 May 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

The German-born conductor Franz-Paul Decker died in Montreal on May 19 at the age of 90. He was music director of the Montreal Symphony from 1967 to 1975 and returned often thereafter as a guest conductor. Just last season he had been scheduled to appear with the MSO – the main work was Richard Strauss’ massive An Alpine Symphony – but was forced to cancel due to ill health.Decker held many conducting posts in Europe throughout his career and he also had a close association with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra. Decker was highly regarded for his performances of the German…

Video of the Day – Grande Symphonie funebre et triomphale

By Paul E. Robinson on 10 May 2014 Orchestral, Romantic, Video of the day

Berlioz was one of the most innovative orchestrators in the history of music. He had a genius for combining instruments to produce unusual sonorities, and for using individual instruments in original ways. In 1840 he wrote a piece for a brass band of 200 players to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the revolution of 1830. The first performance was given by a huge band marching through the streets of Paris and the sound must have been astonishing. And it still is! A few years later the composer added a chorus to the final movement Apotheosis.Performances of this Grande symphonie funebre…

Video of the Day – Barenboim Launches a New Label

By Paul E. Robinson on 4 May 2014 Classical Music, Video of the day

Everyone knows by now that the classical music record business is a shadow of what it once was. The big companies have drastically reduced their operations in the face of the availability of product by other means, above all, streaming. One effect of all these cutbacks has been that few companies are now willing to sign exclusive or any other kind of contract with performers. Some artists have taken matters into their own hands and started their own labels. The latest to do so is Daniel Barenboim. He has just launched Peral, in association with Universal. It appears that Universal…

Video of the Day – Jansons Resigns from the Royal Concertgebouw

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 April 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

This past week Mariss Jansons, 71, announced his resignation from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, effective at the end of next season. Jansons has been the chief conductor of the RCO since 2004, and only the 6th chief conductor of this great orchestra in its long and illustrious history.Jansons has had major health problems since at least 1996 when he suffered a serious heart attack. In recent years he has cut back his long distance travel and limited his conducting to just a handful of orchestras, all of them in Europe.Jansons was born in Latvia but grew up in St. Petersburg…

Guardian Editor Rusbridger Plays Chopin

By Paul E. Robinson on 20 April 2014 La Scena Online, Piano, Romantic

See video here.The power of music is undeniable. So many millions have been inspired by it, consumed by it, consoled by it, etc. Many more have marched off to war to the sound of it, been called into battle by the fanfares of a bugle, or played to eternal rest by the mournful sound of that same bugle.If one has been introduced to music at an early age it often remains a joy and a wonder one’s whole life, no matter what else has transpired. Alan Rusbridger is a typical case. He is a man who studied piano and clarinet when he…

Electifying Korngold and Bach with Gil Shaham/Austin Symphony

By Paul E. Robinson on 16 April 2014 Classical, Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Orchestral, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonLiszt: Les PréludesKorngold: Violin ConcertoDvořák: Symphony No. 7 in d Minor Op. 70Gil Shaham, violinAustin Symphony/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasWhen the still boyish Gil Shaham comes bounding on stage, violin in hand, with a huge smile on his face, you know you are in for a special kind of music-making. Shaham, now 43, still seems the charming prodigy he was when he first came to international attention. Before playing so much as a note, he has the audience in the palm of his hand. This is clearly a young man who loves music and…

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