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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

Video of the Day – Van Zweden Gets a Call From the VPO

By Paul E. Robinson on 6 April 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

Last year Jaap van Zweden got a call from the Berlin Philharmonic to fill in for an ailing conductor. He did and made his debut with the BPO to great acclaim. And just last week, van Zweden got a call from another prestigious orchestra. This time it was the Vienna Philharmonic, and another conductor (Gustavo Dudamel) had fallen ill. Van Zweden made his debut with the VPO April 6 conducting the Bruckner Symphony No. 8.For several years now van Zweden has been a favorite guest conductor with the Chicago Symphony. In June this year he will lead three weeks of concerts devoted to…

Video of the Day – The Solti Archive

By Paul E. Robinson on 30 March 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

In 2011 Lady Solti donated her late husband’s scores and papers to Harvard University. The Sir Georg Solti Archive is now a treasure trove for scholars and young conductors interested in the legacy of one of the greatest conductors of the Twentieth Century.Sir Georg Solti (1912-1997) was born in Budapest and was trained as a pianist. But his talent for conducting soon emerged and after the war he began his career working in German opera houses. He came to the attention of Decca producer John Culshaw and was soon involved in the company’s project to record the first Ring cycle…

“Copland and Mexico” in Austin, Texas

By Paul E. Robinson on 28 March 2014 Concert Reviews, Contemporary, Opera

by Paul E. RobinsonMaestro Peter BayCopland: Two Mexican PiecesCopland: El Salón MéxicoChavez: Chapultepec (Three Famous Mexican Pieces)Revueltas: Redes (complete with film)Joseph Horowitz, scriptwriter and producerAustin Symphony/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasSaturday, March 22, 2014Mexican composer Silvestre Revueltas (a student at St. Edward’s College in Austin [1917-18]) and American composer Aaron Copland were born within months of each other – in December (1899) and November (1900), respectively. Both enjoyed considerable success in the 1930s, but while Copland went on to become one of the iconic figures in American music, Revueltas died of pneumonia, alcoholism, poverty and heartbreak, at the…

Video of the Day – Dudamel Conducts Revueltas

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

Gustavo Dudamel was recently in Canada conducting several concerts with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. By most accounts these concerts devoted to symphonies by Corigliano and Tchaikovsky were hugely impressive. Meanwhile, in Austin, TX, in the aftermath of the annual SXSW Festival, the Austin Symphony presented a rare showing of the film Redes with music by Silvestre Revueltas. This fine Mexican composer died in 1940 at the age of 40, and it was a tragic loss. Revueltas was destined to be one of the major composers of his generation. Among his finest orchestral works is Sensemaya, a pounding, surging piece influenced by…

Video of the Day – Nelsons First Rehearsal with the Boston Symphony

By Paul E. Robinson on 19 March 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

Latvian-born conductor Andris Nelsons seems to be everywhere these days, and everywhere he goes he leaves a positive impression. Here is a conductor who is technically brilliant and totally involved in the music he loves. On top of that, he is charismatic too. No wonder the Boston Symphony signed him up as their next music director. Just a week ago he was in Boston announcing the orchestra’s 2014-2015 season and conducting performances of Strauss’ Salome. A few days later he was in New York leading the Vienna Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. Then it is back to Birmingham, England where he…

Video of the Day – Anne Akiko Meyers Plays the Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesu

By Paul E. Robinson on 8 March 2014 Video of the day, Violin

Great violinists can make music out of practically any instrument. But it certainly helps if that instrument is a Strad or a Guarneri, or something comparable rather than a cigar box.Anne Akiko Meyers has been in the news lately for acquiring a violin reportedly worth $18 million: the 1741 “Vieuxtemps” Guarneri del Gesu. Not that she really needs a better instrument. She already owns two Strads. In 2012 she made a recording of the Bach Concerto for Two Violins and played both parts herself. She played the first solo part using her 1697 “ex-Molitor/Napoleon” Strad and the second part using…

Video of the Day – Alan Gilbert Conducts Mahler

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 March 2014 Orchestral, Video of the day

Alan Gilbert is the music director of the New York Philharmonic but he is also the principal guest conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, one of the best orchestras in Germany. Gilbert has his detractors in New York but he has brought a breath of fresh air to the orchestra’s programming. He has very wide interests and works hard to present contemporary music in interesting ways. In New York in the next few weeks he will continue his Nielsen cycle in concert and on recordings and conduct performances of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd with Emma Thompson and Bryan Terfel.…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014: Closing Gala Concert

By Paul E. Robinson on 3 March 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Strings, Violin

by Paul E. RobinsonMaestro Giancarlo Guerrero and members of the Cleveland OrchestraDvořák: Carnival Overture Op. 92Kreisler: Praeludium and AllegroRennosuke Fukuda, violin (1st Prize Winner, Junior Section)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor Op. 63 (1st movement)Stephen Waarts, violin (1st Prize Winner, Senior Section)Ravel: TziganeArabella Steinbacher, violin (Menuhin Competition Jury Member)Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in e minor Op. 64The Cleveland OrchestraGiancarlo Guerrero, conductorLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TXSunday, March 2, 2014It is not often that the city of Austin sees one of the “Big Five” orchestras; to conclude the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014, the organizers brought in the Cleveland…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014: And the Winner is…Stephen Waarts!

By Paul E. Robinson on 2 March 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Strings

by Paul E. Robinson(Left to right): Gordon Back (Artistic Director of the Menuhin Competition);Stephen Waarts (Winner); and Jury Chair Pamela Franks Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in e minor Op. 64Finalist: Christine Seohyun Lim (Age 19; American-Korean)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 19Finalist: Stephen Kim (Age 18; American)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in g minor Op. 63Finalist: Stephen Waarts (Age 17; American-Dutch)Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D major Op. 19Finalist: In Mo Yang (Age 18; Korean)Austin Symphony Orchestra/Peter BayLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasMarch 1, 2014After eight days of grueling competition, four young violinists between the ages of…

Menuhin Competition Austin 2014 Declares:”The Composer is Dead!”

By Paul E. Robinson on 2 March 2014 Concert Reviews, Orchestral

by Paul E. RobinsonMaestro Giancarlo GuerreroDvořák: Carnival OvertureKreisler: Praeludium and AllegroRennosuke Fukuda: 1st Prize Winner, Junior Section, violinThe Cleveland OrchestraGiancarlo Guerrero, conductorStookey: The Composer is DeadThe Cleveland OrchestraBrett Mitchell, conductorGiancarlo Guerrero, narratorLong Center for the Performing ArtsAustin, TexasMarch 1, 2014As the Menuhin Competition Austin 2014 nears its conclusion, its’ organizers paused to remind listeners that the competition, founded in 1983 by Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999), is all about children. Menuhin believed that music should be about more than talent and competition, that it should produce “ambassadors of goodwill, for they come with pure hearts and music in their souls. It is…

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