MEMETERIA by Thomas May

January 16, 2016 • 9:43 am Comments Off on Ivesian Revelations from Morlot and the Seattle Symphony

Ivesian Revelations from Morlot and the Seattle Symphony

Looking back over last year’s review, now that the SSO and Morlot’s recording of Ives 4 has been released.

page from score of Ives/4th Symphony

The last time Ludovic Morlot led the Seattle Symphony in a Charles Ives symphony (the Second), he paired it with Rachmaninoff’s Third Piano Concerto (and got pulses running with the Overture to Leonard Bernstein’s musical Candide as a curtain raiser).

I can’t say I get the connections he apparently sees between the conservative Russian and his maverick American contemporary. Maybe the idea is to add still another layer of meta-contrast on top of the already explosively varied mixtures that comprise Ives’ sound world. In any case, this week’s program brings another Rach-Ives pairing.

It was heartening to encounter such an unpredictable interpretation of Rach 3 in last night’s performance (I believe the third time in as many years that Morlot has conducted the work here). Though the previous Rachmaninoff-meets-Ives effort (back in June 2012) had featured the ever-fascinating Stephen Hough as the soloist, the…

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January 14, 2016 • 12:25 pm Comments Off on Mohammed Fairouz: Cello Concerto

Mohammed Fairouz: Cello Concerto

DSO-live A heads-up for the weekend: the Detroit Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin will broadcast a major new work by the remarkable Arab-American composer Mohammed Fairouz. Titled Desert Sorrows, it’s a cello concerto for soloist Maya Beiser. Also on the program: Dvořák’s Serenade for Winds, Elgar’s Serenade for Strings, and Mozart’s Prague Symphony. The webcast is scheduled for 8 pm EST on 16 January.

Filed under: Mohammed Fairouz, new music

January 12, 2016 • 12:24 pm Comments Off on Classical Editor’s Picks: January 2016

Classical Editor’s Picks: January 2016

SSO

Here’s my pick list for the month for Rhapsody.

Filed under: editor picks, Rhapsody

January 10, 2016 • 11:20 pm 1

RIP David Bowie (1947-2016)

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

motzartinthejungle-1050x700

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.

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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

Filed under: Juilliard, modernism

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.

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Filed under: Lucerne Festival, obituary, Pierre Boulez

January 4, 2016 • 8:49 am Comments Off on Scrolling Well-Tempered Clavier Book I