Category Archives: Blog
This section contains news, updates and oress releases about our company.
Mendelssohn Chain Saw Massacre
Revised cover art courtesy Photohop Insurgent (I should never have told him the anecdote). For enlarged version, click here.
This past Saturday, Anne-Sophie Mutter gave what may be the very worst concerto performance I have ever heard from a ‘front rank’ soloist. After the concert, I ran into a prominent violinist, mentioned that I would have strongly preferred that she had been the soloist (she wisely attended a ballet performance with friends), and – with my usual good taste and restraint – said the Mutter did to the Mendelssohn what Leatherface did to all of those teenagers in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. The rest of the concert, thankfully, was far better. My assessment of the New York Philharmonic’s concert in honor of Mendelssohn’s 200th birthday is up at ClassicalSource.com.
BSO Jumps into the Live Label Biz
It’s about time. And isn’t it interesting that the orchestra has chosen to showcase Levine’s recording of Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloë, a party piece for former BSO maestro Charles Munch? Both of Munch’s commercial recordings with the BSO are among the greatest glories of the RCA Red Seal catalogue, and an extraordinary 1962 stereo aircheck from Tanglewood has also circulated among collectors for some time. Full press release below the break…
Lukas Foss, 1922-2009
Sad news to report: Composer and conductor Lukas Foss has died here in Manhattan. His original works were imbued with as much wit and often subversive humor as “advanced avant-garde compositional techniques.” On the few occasions I had to chat with him, he proved as wryly humorous and spirited and as Paradigm and Baroque Variations. He was also a remarkably good pianist, and his MCA recording of the Mozart Quintet for Piano and Winds with the Amherst Saxophone Quartet is an unexpected case study in superb chamber musicianship. The Buffalo News has posted an obituary.
Lebrecht on Obama’s New Deal for the Arts
Norman Lebrecht weighs in from across the pond with an outsider’s perspective on what the Barack Obama presidency might mean for the performing arts.
Yuir Bashmet’s Viola Self-destructs in Concert
La Repubblica online has an amazing sequence of photographs from an in-concert disaster yesterday evening in Torino: viola virtuoso Yuri Bashmet’s instrument, an extraordinary instrument built by Carlo Testori in 1758, fell apart during a performance with the RAI Orchestra. The orchestra’s principal violist, Luca Ranieri, loaned Bashmet his 400-year-old Maggini instrument to complete the performance. Bashmet’s instrument has been repaired and will hopefully be on its best behavior for his upcoming appearances in Chicago with the Moscow Soloists.
UPDATE: Word from the grapevine is that the tailpiece did indeed snap off, causing superficial damage to the upper plate, but Bashmet’s instrument was promptly and completely repaired.
Update: Donald Rosenberg downsizes lawsuit against Plain Dealer
Here’s the update from the New York Times.
Busy busy busy…
… as activist blogger, filmmaker and legendary party-crasher Scoobie Davis is fond of saying. I’ve been taking on some additional responsibilities for one client, initiating a digital archiving job for another, remastering some fascinating romantic-era piano concertos from analog tape originals for yet another, assembling additional talent for APJ, and generally burning the candle at both ends. Later this week, look for a new “guess the artist” audio sample.
David Patrick Stearns on RCO Live’s SACDs
One of the best music critics in America weighs in on the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s outstanding SACD series. DPS cites the Debussy/Dutilleux disc conducted by music director Mariss Jansons an all-Berg program conducted by Daniele Gatti, and I’m also mighty impressed…
Betty Freeman Dies at 86
Alan Rich reports on the death of one the world’s most prominent patrons of postwar music.