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

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

Video of the Day – How to Play the Didgeridoo

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 October 2013 Video of the day, Winds

Ever heard of a didgeridoo? It is a traditional instrument of the aboriginal people of northern Australia. It is little known outside Australia and many of those who have seen and heard it are baffled by it. You can’t play conventional “tunes” on it and the sounds coming out of the instrument can be downright ugly to our ears.But the instrument and its players have a lot to tell us about human expression. In this excellent video David Hudson demonstrates how sounds are made on the instrument. And if you think it is easy to make those sounds just try…

Video of the Day – Jansen and Gergiev Play Szymanowski

By Paul E. Robinson on 14 October 2013 Contemporary, Orchestral, Video of the day, Violin

Valery Gergiev recently wowed audiences in Montreal and Toronto with his Mariinsky Orchestra. He is also music director of the London Symphony. With the LSO last month at the Barbican in London he collaborated with violinist Janine Jansen in the Violin Concerto No. 1 by Karol Szymanowski (1883-1937). To judge by this video it was a beautiful performance of a neglected masterpiece. The work was composed in 1917 when Szymanowski was 34.Note that Gergiev appears to be using the shortest baton ever used by a major conductor. Why bother with any baton at all?Paul E. Robinson

Video of the Day – Vanska Resigns From the Minnesota Orchestra

By Paul E. Robinson on 7 October 2013 Orchestral, Video of the day

The battle between management and musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra has gone on so long that music director Osmo Vanska has resigned. I don’t blame him. A conductor without an orchestra can’t get much done. I sympathize with the musicians as they fight back against a management determined to eliminate its deficit by downsizing the orchestra. On the other hand, downsizing is probably exactly what is needed, in Minnesota and elsewhere. The cost of running the Minnesota Orchestra has simply grown too great for its community. Few orchestras can do what the Cleveland Orchestra has done in similar circumstances. It…

Video of the Day – Tom and Jerry at the Proms

By Paul E. Robinson on 1 October 2013 Orchestral, Video of the day

The Proms are over for another year and it is time once again to tip our hats to the BBC: this is perhaps the world’s greatest music festival. And in the form of live television broadcasts – with video to follow – it is more available than ever to millions of people. Every night during the summer months the Proms fill the Royal Albert Hall and bring in world class artists in a vast repertoire of the familiar and the all but unknown.This past summer one of the quirky highlights was music from the Tom and Jerry cartoons. Not great…

Course à la mairie de Montréal

By Hassan Laghcha on 29 September 2013 Arts Industry, La Scena Online

Les artistes veulent un maire inspiréPar Hassan LaghchaLes candidats à la mairie rivalisent d’affection pour le secteur arts et culture. Ils avancent tous de belles idées et de beaux projets pour que Montréal accède pleinement à son statut de métropole culturelle et artistique cosmopolite. De leur côté, les gens des milieux artistique et culturel se mobilisent pour que la future administration de la ville donne suite favorable à leur doléances. Ils souhaitent que le futur maire soit « plus actif » et plus engagé en faveur des travailleurs de ce secteur, parent pauvre des finances publiques. Voici un tour d’horizon des engagements…

Previous 1 … 128 129 130 131 132 … 150 Next

Browsing: La Scena Online

Current Issue