Now that the centenary of Rhapsody in Blue (last Monday) has come and gone – with fanfare and a degree of controversy and a sampling of many renditions of Gershwin’s “worst masterpiece” – I am left with a craving to revisit my favorite version: by Alexander Tsfasman and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky. That’s right: a 1960s Soviet studio recording with a Moscow … [Read more...] about The Best Performance of the Worst Masterpiece?
Happy Birthday to the “Worst Masterpiece”
February 12 marks the 100th birthday of Rhapsody in Blue. Via NPR, the daily newsmagazine “1A” is re-airing my “Gershwin Moment” documentary from last February; it highlights my favorite Rhapsody in Blue recording, by Alexander Tsfasman and Gennadi Rozhdestvensky (Moscow, 1960). And I’m taking part in additional Gershwin radio features on NPR … [Read more...] about Happy Birthday to the “Worst Masterpiece”
The Boston Symphony In Trouble
[Above: Boston's Symphony Hall, built by Henry Higginson and opened in 1900.] Last week I heard the Boston Symphony perform Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth at Carnegie Hall. The conductor was their music director since 2014: Andris Nelsons. I had planned to write a blog but instead emailed my impressions to a dozen friends in the music business. The emails that came … [Read more...] about The Boston Symphony In Trouble
Rachmaninoff in Exile: “Implacable Poise and Sovereign Humanity”
Reviewing Fiona Maddocks’ beautiful new book on Sergei Rachmaninoff in exile for The American Scholar, I write: “With the waning of modernism, Rachmaninoff’s stock began to rise; for the first time, he became an object of serious scholarly inquiry. Today, he ranks with Igor Stravinsky, Dmitri Shostakovich, and Serge Prokofiev as one of four great Russian composers … [Read more...] about Rachmaninoff in Exile: “Implacable Poise and Sovereign Humanity”
“Tannhäuser” — Take Four
Conrad L. Osborne has now chimed in with a typically riveting review of the Met Tannhäuser, bristling with insights into the opera and its performance last December 12. Read it. As a brief postscript to my three previous Tannhäuser blogs, and Conrad’s blog, would like to draw particular attention to his observations about the current condition of the Met … [Read more...] about “Tannhäuser” — Take Four