Phil Kline’s far-flung output is like a family with many parents. While many composers find a creative vein and mine it for as long as possible, Kline is more conceptually similar to Stephen Sondheim or Igor Stravinsky, establishing stylistic and emotional perimeters for each new work and creating a language that best inhabits it. Out Cold, his new 10-song cycle I heard Oct. … [Read more...] about Phil Kline’s staged song cycle: Better seen or heard?
Hans Werner Henze: The last interview?
Nobody should be surprised that Hans Werner Henze had a world premiere in Berlin - Ouverture zu einem Theater - only days before he died on Oct. 27 in Dresden. He was unstoppable: Illness nearly killed him when he was between acts in the composition of his 2007 opera Phaedra - an experience that changed the flavor of the piece but certainly didn’t curtail it. Though other … [Read more...] about Hans Werner Henze: The last interview?
Great music – and opera – at the end of the line
Options have run out, but existence drags on anyway. Such is the dilemma dramatized in two new music-theater pieces, the recently premiered opera Dog Days by David T. Little (seen below), and the theatrical song cycle Out Cold by Phil Kline (which will be premiered Oct. 25-27 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, paired with his penetrating Zippo Songs, based on desperate texts … [Read more...] about Great music – and opera – at the end of the line
Le Poeme Harmonique and the Venice we never knew
La Poeme Harmonique, a France-based early-music group that I would get on an airplane to hear, has become an annual visitor to Columbia University’s Miller Theater, and this year, achieved a visibility milestone: Two full-house performances of its program Venezia. No doubt La Poeme Harmonique will soon take its place in New York alongside Les Arts Florissants as one of the … [Read more...] about Le Poeme Harmonique and the Venice we never knew
Allan Kozinn: Will he be muted or amplified?
Is New York Times classical music critic Allan Kozinn being silenced with a reassignment as cultural reporter? Not if anybody plays their cards even remotely right. Rather than being muted, Kozinn could well be amplified with a larger, broader platform. As a longtime New York Times reader who believes that the publication's strength and quality can only help bolster the … [Read more...] about Allan Kozinn: Will he be muted or amplified?