Anagnost was the music director of the poineering New York City chamber orchestra The Little Orchestra Society, and equally at home before audiences of adults and children. He had an amazing knack for adventurous and innovative programming. Margalit Fox has more details at nytimes.com.
Category Archives: Blog
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Everyone’s a Critic, Even the Felines
Our cat Nicolò meowed one of his assertive meows as the first movement cadenza of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (the Oistrakh / Cluytens / French National Radio Orchestra recording on EMI) was about to emerge from the speakers — and then another as the tricky double-stops toward the end of the cadenza commenced. He’d been fed, so it wasn’t about “noms“. Nic sounded critical of something, but of what exactly I’m not certain, as he walked away.
Joan La Barbara @ Greenwich House Music School
Joan La Barbara, a pioneer of extended vocal technique, remains a force of nature in the world of new music. Her brief recital at Greenwich House Music School under the aegis of North River Music’s outstanding contemporary music series opened with three brief vocal masterpieces by “New York School” composers Morton Feldman and John Cage.
Continue reading Joan La Barbara @ Greenwich House Music School
Aw, Jeez — Yakov Kreizberg, 1959-2011
I was in such a rush to get to my first appointment this morning that I skipped looking at the music headlines, so I learned from Jeffrey Tarlo at J&R that conductor Yakov Kreizberg had died at the far-too-early age of 51. Obituaries are live online at NPR and The Oregonian, and Stephen Hough has a personal reminiscence at the Telegraph (London). His recent recordings with the Netherlands Philharmonic and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra for PentaTone showcased both his extrovert, dramatic interpretive style and his skill building a very good orchestra into an even better one. A longer tribute in Dutch has been posted to the official Web site of the Netherlands Philharmonic.
Luxury Karr
I am still in the process of sorting through a pile of product samples, swag, and tchotchkes which I brought back from MIDEM over a month ago (which goes to show you how busy things are at Casa Gaudette), and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a number that are well worth some comment. So this is the first in four installments of new product worth tracking down.
James Levine to Step Down as BSO Music Director
The press release just arrived in my email inbox: “BSO Managing Director Mark Volpe announces that James Levine will step down as Boston Symphony Music Director as of September 1, 2011.” It’s not live on the BSO’s Web site yet, so here are excerpts:
Continue reading James Levine to Step Down as BSO Music Director
Eugene Fodor, 1950-2011
Margalit Fox breaks the bad news at the NY Times. He made a handful of fine recordings of virtuoso repertoire for RCA and a few independent labels. I met the affable, easygoing Fodor on a number of occasions before and during my tenure at BMG. His longstanding battles against chemical dependency were well known in (and outside) the classical music world, and Fox details the usual “cautionary tale” spin that one would expect from his death. And yes, I have to question the role of his early management in the path that his life took.
Maddening Mahler
I’ve said it before, and it bears repeating: conductor Valery Gergiev is uneven, arguably the most inconsistent major conductor on the international scene. When he’s at his best, he’s sensational.
And yes, I can understand that Gergiev + Mahler + the London Symphony Orchestra = sold-out venue, in this case Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center this afternoon. The problem is that the formula is not necessarily good for the music itself. And though the LSO played brilliantly for teh most part, Gergiev’s sometimes micromanaged, sometimes messy, and completely erratic way with Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 undermined the work’s fury, made too elegant outbursts of rage in the third movement, and completely missed the Kubler-Ross-like home stretch from grief to acceptance. I’ve seen memorable performances of this work under Maazel (with the Cleveland Orchestra during my college years) and Haitink (with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra), but if anything, the present performance made me miss the great Klaus Tennstedt more than ever.
Research tool for musicians collides with property rights
Go read Daniel Wakin’s NY Times article on the Internet Music Score Library Project, which is having completelt predictable travails over intellectual property and copyright issues. IMSLP is an indispensible tool for classical musicians, particularly orchestral players and students tracking down parts, and those crazy obsessives (including yours truly) seeking out obscure music or divergent editions.
What could possibly go wrong?
Robert Spano conducts Berlioz’s mammoth Grande Messe des Morts at Carnegie hall with a world-cklass chamber orchestra. What could possibly go wrong? Check out my review at Classical Source.