February 2012
7 posts
November 2011
2 posts
Warhol Dervish plays Missy Mazzoli & Nico Muhly
Warhol Dervish is playing at Sala Rossa on December 18 at 9:00, and the Youjsh will also be doing a set. We are playing NYC-based composer, Nico Muhly’s music as well as string music by another amazing New York composer, Missy Mazzoli. The program is not completely set in stone yet, but should include most of the following works:
By Missy Mazzoli:
“Dissolve O My Heart” for...
October 2011
8 posts
The Story of the Symphony Six
As one of Canada’s pre-eminent musical institutions, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra has had many interesting incidents occur over the course of it’s 90 year history. One story that bears repeating took place 60 years ago this month, a painful reminder of how cold war-era politics affected cultural institutions north of the 49th parallel.
On November 27, 1951, the TSO performed at the...
A Conversation with Isabelle Faust (article)
Among the most interesting among the current generation of European violinists who have begun making a name for themselves in North America, Isabelle Faust has managed to find success without relying on conventional marketing. Rather, it has been her emphasis on integrity and fidelity to the composers whose music she plays that have helped cultivate her reputation as musician of enormous...
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Isabelle Faust: The complete interview
Biography
“Her sound has passion, grit and electricity but also a disarming warmth and sweetness that can unveil the music’s hidden strains of lyricism …”
-New York Times
Isabelle Faust adopts a perspective on music in which ever-new experiences and discoveries are the principal focus. Having founded a string quartet when just eleven, her early chamber music experiences imbued in her a...
September 2011
2 posts
Coming soon: Conversation with Isabelle Faust
This morning, I awoke at the first sign of dawn to place an early morning phone call to Germany in order to interview to the great German violinist, Isabelle Faust, for La Scena Musicale. We spoke in advance of her solo appearance here in Montreal on November 8th at the Festival Bach de Montreal where she will be performing four of the six sonatas and partitas by J.S. Bach (for more information...
Recommended Listening... (part 2)
October Masterwork: Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony # 5, op. 67
Recommended composer: Dimitri Shostakovich
Recommended work: Violin Concerto # 1 in A min op. 99
Year it was written: 1947-1948
SIMILARITIES:
Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is associated with the defiance of fate, represented by its famous four-note “fate knocking at the door” motif, which appears throughout the piece. Shostakovich’s...
WatchLigeti goes viral: Music in the Barns promotional video. By Carol Gimbel and Pemi Paull.
The Institutionalization of Music Education: A...
During the period of history between the middle ages and the French Revolution, music was deeply integrated into the fabric of life. Cultivating an understanding of music was considered a basic component of a general education. In the past two centuries, there has been a gradual shift in the role music plays in our lives. With regard to the training of musicians, prior to the French Revolution...
August 2011
11 posts
Recommended Listening...
September Masterwork: Anton Dvořák Symphony No. 9, op. 95 “From the New World” Recommended composer: Ludwig van Beethoven Recommended work: String Quartet # 7 op. 59 # 1 Year it was written: 1806 Similarities: Dvorak’s New World Symphony and Beethoven’s op. 59 op. 1 (Razumovsky) quartet are both public works, written by composers at the height of their creative and professional powers. and...
Dancing About Architecture: A History of the...
The first public opera house was the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice, Italy, which opened in 1637. When Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) was composing, there was no opera house in London. In Germany, the first opera house was built in Hamburg, in 1678. During the 17th and 18th centuries, these buildings were often financed by the ruling classes, whose patronage of the arts was used to endorse their...
New La Scena reviews for August
Vilde Frang Bartok/Strauss/Grieg Violin Sonatas EMI Classics 5099994763928 (78’06”) HHHHHH From her studies at the Yehudi Menuhin school, to recital dates at such leading festivals as Verbier, Lockenhaus, and Gstaad, Vilde Frang’s background has all of the important pit stops on the road to success. This disc, her second on EMI, shows that her success is no fluke, and Frang is the real deal....
June 2011
1 post
New La Scena reviews for June
La Scena reviews June 20/2011
Pascal Tremblay Jazz Faction : Lueurs
Fidelio FACD033
HHH
The string quartet, in recent times, has become an all-purpose ensemble. The pioneering work of groups like the Kronos Quartet have demonstrated that it can converse on equal terms with a broad range of musical traditions as much as any ensemble of the European musical tradition.
Pascal Tremblay Jazz...
May 2011
2 posts
The 21st Century Viola
There has been a major shift taking place in the performance and presentation of music in the western classical tradition. It is now in full swing, a real changing of the guard which I believe is for the better. Our musical world is re-inventing itself, along with our society as a whole.
Those of us who see the writing on the wall are trying to keep pace with the larger culture, to stay relevant...
Classical Revolutionaries: Beethoven, The...
“Few were moved; it was a weak succès d’estime”.
Thus Joseph Böhm described the first performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet in E-flat, op. 127, as performed by the Schuppanzigh Quartet on March 6, 1825. To what extent this can be blamed on the performers is somewhat controversial. It seems unsurprising that the performance was a failure, given that the composer failed to deliver the score...
April 2011
3 posts
March 2011
13 posts
La Scena Brahms/Isabelle Faust review:
Johannes Brahms, Violin Concerto op. 77 Sextet n°2 op. 36 Isabelle Faust, violon Mahler Chamber Orchestra Daniel Harding Julia-Maria Kretz, violin Stefan Fehlandt, Pauline Sachse, violas Christoph Richter, Xenia Jankovic, violoncellos Harmonia Mundi: HMC902075 (74:50) HHHHHH
Isabelle Faust is undoubtedly one of a select group of truly great artists playing the violin today. This new release...
Music in Victoria review of my Bach/Ligeti... →
Music in Victoria review of the first solo concert of my “Unaccompanied Viola Project”.
New CD reviews for La Scena
Bach: Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, BWV 1007-1012
Josephine van Lier
Vanlier2010-01 (3:43:52)
HHHHH
This disc comes with a twist: The 1st and 4th suite are performed on a cello with a modern setup, the 3d, on a carbon-fibre instrument, while the 2d suite is played on a baroque cello, and the 6th on a 5-string piccolo ‘cello. The 5th suite is recorded three times, using the baroque,...
February 2011
2 posts
