Here’s my pick list for the month for Rhapsody.
Filed under: editor picks, Rhapsody
January 12, 2016 • 12:24 pm Comments Off on Classical Editor’s Picks: January 2016
Classical Editor’s Picks: January 2016
January 10, 2016 • 11:20 pm 1
RIP David Bowie (1947-2016)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYZRfDhCHlc
Filed under: David Bowie
January 10, 2016 • 11:43 am Comments Off on Mozart in the Jungle: Ego, Sex, and Music
Mozart in the Jungle: Ego, Sex, and Music
My latest piece on Rhapsody:
At first glance, when Amazon Studios’ series Mozart in the Jungle launched in December 2014, it suggested little more than a mashup of the bed-hopping and gossip from Sex and the City with the ambience of Carnegie Hall.
Back in the 1980s Amadeus became a phenomenon because it portrayed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as a wild-and-crazy guy who just happened to write immortal music. Peter Shaffer (whose play was adapted for the hit film) revealed a Mozart addicted to life and physical pleasures — which would be iconoclastic only to those who think of classical composers and musicians as “people so lofty they sound as if they shit marble,” as Shaffer’s character puts it.
Filed under: media, music news
January 9, 2016 • 8:59 am Comments Off on World Premiere in Seattle: Mason Bates’s Cello Concerto
World Premiere in Seattle: Mason Bates’s Cello Concerto
Mason Bates and Joshua Roman are teaming up again this weekend for a performance of the Cello Concerto with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.
Filed under: Mason Bates, new music
January 8, 2016 • 7:56 am Comments Off on Philomel
Philomel
An appetizer for Juilliard’s upcoming Focus! festival:
Milton Babbitt’s World: A Centennial Celebration
January 6, 2016 • 8:02 am Comments Off on RIP Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
RIP Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
The end of an era. From Lucerne Festival director Michael Haefliger’s eulogy :
“I am a French composer, conductor, and writer.” Most likely, this is the answer Pierre Boulez would have given anyone who asked him to describe his work as an artist: an answer that is precise, to the point, without ostentation or any kind of theatrical posing. This is how most of us “youngsters” experienced, felt, and saw Pierre Boulez. And this is how he became a great model for us, indeed, almost a “demigod.” We admired what he did and the goals which he steadfastly pursued, regardless of whether they involved relatively small or large revolutions. Last night, he left us. We mourn the loss of a great human being and artist, one who infinitely enriched and influenced this Festival.
Filed under: Lucerne Festival, obituary, Pierre Boulez
January 4, 2016 • 8:49 am Comments Off on Scrolling Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Scrolling Well-Tempered Clavier Book I
Played by Kenneth Gilbert on harpsichord with scrolling score:
Played on piano by Samuel Feinberg with scrolling score:
Filed under: Bach
January 1, 2016 • 12:27 am Comments Off on Poem for the New Year
Poem for the New Year
Filed under: poetry
MEMETERIA by Thomas May 