I’ve never warmed to Andrea Bocelli’s opera recordings, but I am that rare classical snob who likes his pop and Neapolitan offerings. Zachary Woolfe’s negative review of Bocelli’s MET recital in the NY Times spreads the blame quite properly. Woolfe did not make mention of Bocelli’s management, which has also done an extraordinary job, at least up until now. The talented, likable crooner should sack whoever it was on his team that persuaded him to do a MET recital.
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Blanche Moyse, 1909-2011
The NY Times has the obit for a pioneering festival founder and pedagogue.
CSO Music Director Riccardo Muti Gets a Pacemaker
Johannes Somary, 1935-2011
Somary, a specialuist in Baroque and early Classical works, was particularly active in New York and London. He eschewed period instruments and the “historically informed’ interpretive approach when it was on the rise, and made a number of excellent recordings, particularly for Vanguard Classics — many of which are still available. William Grimes’s NY Times obituary is now online.
Emanuel Vardi, 1915-2011
Margalit Fox at the NY Times reports on the passing of the 95-year-old viola pioneer. Is it just me, or do violists tend to be nearly as long-lived on average as conductors?
Muti to Undergo Surgery Monday
“Carlos Kleiber: Traces to Nowhere”
A month after Carlos Kleiber died, I ran into a prominent conductor of my acquaintance at Academy Records. When talk turned to Kleiber, he sighed and said, “My God, he was the greatest of us all. The greatest.”
Watch the opening segment of Eric Schulz’s deeply moving portrait of Kleiber, in the words and recollections of his colleagues intercut with rehearsal and concert footage, here. Hat tip: Sybille Werner.
UPDATE: It’s out now on DVD in North America. Find the best price here. If you were in New York City during October 1990 and caught Der Rosenkavalier at the MET, you know what all the buzz was about.
Muti on the Mend
HuffPo reports that Leonard Slatkin and Mitsuko Uchida will cover for Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti, who has been hospitalized following a fainting spell during a rehearsal.
The Dude Abides (LA, That Is…)
The LA Times reports that Los Angeles Philharmonic music director Gustavo Dudamel has extended his contract with the orchestra.
DSO Management Offers Players New Contract
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra, one of the nation’s best “second tier” orchestras, has been on strike for the last couple of months, but there was a move just over a week ago on the players’ side to move toward a setttlement. Management issued a counteroffer today according to the Detroit Free Press. Here’s hoping they settle, and fast — especially after having just listened to the orchestra’s new recording of Rachmaninoff’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by music director Leonard Slatkin. It’s a thrilling, brisk performance that eschews sentimentality for high-octane virtuoso playing. It would be a pity — and a blow to Detroit, which has had a hellish enough few decades — to see this orchestra fold.