The very idea raises an immediate "uh-oh." Mozart's music feels like such a complete sphere unto itself that so-called re-loads, mashups and crossover re-arrangements have been minimal and often embarrassing. Just in the past year, though, surprisingly interventionist performances have been coming my way from extremely high places: When the slow movement of Mozart's … [Read more...] about Jamming with Mozart from MTT to Perm
Trinity Wall Street re-defines downtown
What is it about the New York early music scene that it gravitates toward the north and south poles of Manhattan? Music Before 1800 and Miller Theater are around Columbia University's magnetic north while the increasingly important Trinity Wall Street is south of City Hall, its current Twelfth Night Festival filling the gap between Christmas and New Year's (Dec. 26-Jan. 6) … [Read more...] about Trinity Wall Street re-defines downtown
The abruptly changing Chinese landscape from Lepage to Antonioni
The first thing you learn about China is its vast number of rules - big and small, sensible and trivial. The second thing is that maybe 10 percent of the rules are enforced - though at any given time, you never know what 10 percent that will be. Or when. Much later comes the more important realization: The people behind the rules have none at all. Books are edited and … [Read more...] about The abruptly changing Chinese landscape from Lepage to Antonioni
Management to Orchestra: Drop Dead (and it probably will)
Two in one day. First came the email from George Steel stating that the New York City Opera was descending into Chapter 11 - and will probably liquidate its assets. The company had sent out an emergency appeal in recent weeks for a $7 million bridge fund. At last report, it wasn't even close: $2 million. Then, Osmo Vänskä resigned from the Minnesota Orchestra after a … [Read more...] about Management to Orchestra: Drop Dead (and it probably will)
Eschenbach in Salzburg: How was booing possible?
Only weeks ago, Christoph Eschenbach's new recording of Paul Hindemith orchestral works came bubbling through my speakers with a kind of sparkling animation and buoyant rhythms one rarely hears in typically machine-tooled performances of this ultra-contrapuntal composer. "Eschenbach got his groove back," I thought. The orchestra was NDR Orchestra, which he has been returning … [Read more...] about Eschenbach in Salzburg: How was booing possible?