Russia's cultural invasion of China was relatively short - roughly 1952 to 1961 - but left a lasting mark, despite efforts to stamp it out. The evidence is increasingly visible. In the lobby of the Shanghai Concert Hall, two manuscript pages from Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 6 are framed. How did they survive Mao's Cultural Revolution? Inside the hall, the Shanghai … [Read more...] about David Oistrakh in China – and other Russian footprints in Asia
Report from China: Mysteries of cinematic censorship
SHANGHAI - Mysterious indeed was the delayed China opening of Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained. It finally arrived on Mother’s Day weekend, in a limited way, after a delay of approximately a month, when the film was announced for wider release but got only a few hours into its first screenings before being abruptly pulled by censors with little warning and, of course, … [Read more...] about Report from China: Mysteries of cinematic censorship
Laurie Anderson’s Landfall: Sinking into numbers, sounds and extinction?
Is Laurie Anderson too cool to be anguished? Not lately, and certainly not in her new collaboration with the Kronos Quartet, Landfall, that had its East Coast premiere over the weekend at Montclair (NJ) State University’s Peak Performance series. Early on in the piece, the string quartet plays a probing, wandering melody amid vaguely mournful chords gently propelled by … [Read more...] about Laurie Anderson’s Landfall: Sinking into numbers, sounds and extinction?
From Rittenhouse Square to the Salome Chamber Orchestra: Are rare instruments starting to play us?
"A Stradivari in Philadelphia" was the name of a recent concert on Rittenhouse Square, and, in my experience, the first time the instrument took top billing over the performer and repertoire. Some composer names were found in the fine print (no mention of what pieces) and the violinist was one Matteo Fedeli. Strads are hardly news in Philadelphia. Why would anybody suggest … [Read more...] about From Rittenhouse Square to the Salome Chamber Orchestra: Are rare instruments starting to play us?
Paul’s Case: An opera that buries carnations in the snow
Sometimes an opera grows into the time in which it’s meant to be heard. Such is the situation with the unpromisingly-titled Paul's Case by composer Gregory Spears and librettist Kathryn Walat, first heard in ink-not-yet-dry circumstances in the 2009 Philly Fringe Festival. Now, in a new, late-April production by the Washington, D.C.-area company Urban Arias, the piece is … [Read more...] about Paul’s Case: An opera that buries carnations in the snow