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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

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…

Le chant du dindon – Nostalgic Circus Tale Enchants

By La Scena Musicale Team on 13 July 2011 Circus, Concert Reviews

By Taylor White and Aleshia Jensen Le chant du dindon: Until July 24The North American premiere of Le chant du dindon, performed by the family-run French circus troupe Rasposo, enjoyed a warm reception Tuesday night. Part of Montréal’s Complètement Cirque Festival, the intimate performance took place under the company’s big top to around 400 spectators of all ages. Amid rich-coloured tapestries, cleverly designed lighting effects and a versatile set the performers tell a seemingly simple family tale of daily circus life, beginning with breakfast and ending around the campfire. The costumes are reminiscent of the early 20th century, and the…

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…

“Die Walküre” Battles “The Machine”

By Paul E. Robinson on 25 May 2011 Concert Reviews, Opera

by Paul E. RobinsonWhile opera fans are notoriously old-fashioned when it comes to stage directors bringing overarching new ideas to their favourite works, it is clear that if opera is going to have any future, it must be open to creative re-thinking.Wieland Wagner successfully updated his grandfather’s Ring cycle at Bayreuth in the 1950s, and Karajan and Schneider-Siemssen used cutting edge projection technology to add a new dimension to the Ring cycle at Salzburg in the 1960s. In 1976, Patrice Chereau gave us something to think about with his radical new Ring at Bayreuth. In 2011, we have Robert LePage…

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…

Nagano’s New Recording of Beethoven’s Third a Triumph

By Paul E. Robinson on 24 March 2011 Classical, Concert Reviews, Orchestral

Beethoven: Gods, Heroes, and MenThe Creatures of Prometheus/Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”Orchestre symphonique de Montréal/Kent NaganoAnalekta AN2 9838 (73 min 51 s)****It is a sign of the times that the MSO has no major label willing to produce its CDs. Many fine orchestras are in the same situation and several of them – San Francisco Symphony, London Symphony, London Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Toronto Symphony, etc. – have taken to producing their own recordings. Fortunately, the Canadian record company Analekta, with the help of the Department of Canadian Heritage, has been putting together several MSO projects. The latest venture, like the first…

Liszt’s 200th All Icing No Cake!

By Paul E. Robinson on 22 March 2011 Concert Reviews, Orchestral, Piano

by Paul E. RobinsonNot even the greatest of composers has left the world a portfolio of only masterpieces – a case in point being Franz Liszt (1811- 1886), undoubtedly one of the most famous composers who ever lived.The Austin Symphony recently celebrated the Liszt bicentennial by programming the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Totentanz for piano and orchestra; the former remains solidly in the standard repertoire, while the latter barely qualifies for even an occasional performance.Music director Peter Bay was hedging his bets in honouring Liszt. He gave us two Liszt works for piano and orchestra with Italian pianist…

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