New this week in andante magazine at www.andante.com (long)
Matthew Westphal
The summer festival season is getting started, and andante magazine
has reviews this week from Spoleto USA in Charleston, the Handel
festival in Göttingen, the "Sick Puppy" piano festival in Boston and
even the Verdi centenary celebrations in Copenhagen(!). We also have
interviews with cellist Steven Isserlis and composer David Del
Tredici, CD reviews and the like -- PLUS reviews of both the world
premiere recording and the "official" concert premiere of Handel's
rediscovered Gloria.
Here's what's new in andante magazine this week:
(copy and paste URL into your browser)
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INTERVIEWS:
A Neo-Romantic in Wonderland
andante talks with composer David Del Tredici about tonality, his new
song cycle, recent changes in his life, and music critics.
by Jason Serinus
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=809DCA1E-9039-4D7A-874EC65C0B673B67
In The Blood
In Part One of a two-part interview, cellist extraordinaire Steven
Isserlis talks about some of the music close to his heart.
by Edith Eisler
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=4CCABA43-3620-413E-82518E88AA0E824C
CD REVIEWS
The "New Messiah" Has Come
Handel's newly rediscovered (and highly hyped) Gloria appears on CD,
sung by its ideal interpreter.
by Matthew Westphal
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=1BFB6178-93A0-4033-9819A1922E3AB9BB
Duos and Trio by Charles Alkan
A well-known "wild man" of the piano produces some surprisingly
civilized chamber music.
by Leslie Gerber
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=20E20B53-E6B7-4BCA-9F60F3568C0C88A2
Too, Too Beautiful
Maxim Vengerov plays Dvorák's Violin Concerto and Elgar's Violin
Sonata so prettily that the excitement seems to dissolve away.
by Leslie Gerber
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=37D51EBE-DC22-4984-8CBBE6CC23D437EE
Yet Another Very Good Mahler 3rd
Kent Nagano and the DSO-Berlin add a very respectable recording to a
very crowded field.
by Jed Distler
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=126E4DCA-EB13-4279-B86292A74D3D3D04
Truly Gorgeous Ravel
Stanislaw Skrowacewski's recordings with the Minnesota Orchestra early
1970s get first-rate new remasterings.
by Jed Distler
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=DFA5CD69-EC83-4E77-84CDBE23CE0B53F3
Alfred Brendel Plays Schubert Sonatas
Live recordings of immaculate concert performances.
by Leslie Gerber
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=DAE62197-095E-4411-8FECAFCC0FADE1D0
Back to Modernism
Irvine Arditti reconstitutes Luigi Nono's late-1980s collaboration
with Gidon Kremer.
by Marc Weidenbaum
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=CECE4D9A-2F81-4B6A-AF51D563CB17C9BC
CONCERT REVIEWS
Göttingen Handel Festival 2001
Artistic director Nicholas McGegan presents an opera (Partenope), a
pastorale (Clori, Tirsi e Fileno) and a (modern) world premiere.
by Hugh Canning
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=AC0E3DAD-6468-4C63-9A36A9BF15F45818
Danish Verdiana
A report from Copenhagen's celebrations of the Verdi centennial.
by Robert Levine
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=900E8E5F-2680-456F-A871F9E0E77CE3CE
Spoleto Festival USA
A report on choral and chamber music concerts from the Charleston
gala's 25th anniversary season.
by Wes Blomster
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=09FF4E8F-F345-482D-85F638BEFA342560
Ruth Crawford Seeger
Spoleto USA's new music series celebrates the centennial of this
underrated member of an extraordinary musical family.
by Wes Blomster
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=8DDB796A-034C-4523-9F8AE2027031167B
Scarlatti Rediscovered
The Göttingen Handel Festival and conductor Nicholas McGegan present
the modern premiere of Scarlatti's St. Cecilia Vespers.
by David Vickers
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=4322EB9E-A754-4A58-8232BCC3CA602537
Wonderous Wagner and Spectacular Shostakovich
Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony shine in the
Wesendonck-Lieder (with Michelle DeYoung) and the Russian composer's
Fifth Symphony.
by Jason Serinus
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=350B6DDE-2310-49B0-A97B40D0B8BF4B52
We also have (through our trusty media feed) several interesting
concert reviews from daily newspapers in the US and UK. (andante
denies responsibility for the bad joke in one of the headlines.)
Pianist Krystian Zimmerman Plays Well, but Plays it Safe.
Matthew Rye - The Daily Telegraph [London] - 15 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=897C12AE-0C7D-42B4-9F375552C54D60ED
"Sick Puppy" Piano Concerts in Boston Focus on Contemporary Music
T. J. Medrek - Boston Herald - 15 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=3CA1F2B1-BBB6-429B-B703E0BACC70644F
A Carmen Fantasy for Double Bass?
John Fleming - St. Petersburg Times - 15 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=CE0FD7AF-5353-4C86-95CCE6148AA5D0E0
New Cast Breathes Life into San Francisco Opera's Traviata
Joshua Kosman - San Francisco Chronicle - 12 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=D24A4D0E-BC87-4506-B90D301220AE4A95
In London, South African Cast Brings Fresh Vitality toCarmen, While
Catalan Director's Don Giovanni Isn't as Shocking as It Pretends
Anna Picard - The Independent [London] - 10 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=20AD5178-2160-406A-A44817579E04DBA9
Philip Glass's Repetitive Music Hypnotizes; Philip Glass's Repetitive
Music Hypnotizes
Pierre Ruhe - The Atlanta Constitution - 11 June 2001
http://www.andante.com/news/article.cfm?articleID=53AFD884-BA83-4F17-AF21818394574CDD
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Items to be posted over the course of next week include:
PERSPECTIVES:
The Dangers of Enforced Multiculturalism
Identity politics has no place on the concert platform.
by Daniel Felsenfeld
INTERVIEW:
Everything But the Priest
Paul McCreesh, famous for his reconstructions of fabulous musical
services from San Marco in Venice, Seville Cathedral and the like,
talks with andante about the theater inherent in sacred music, making
recordings, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610, and (of course)
"authenticity."
by Matthew Westphal
CONCERT REVIEWS: more coverage of this year's Handel festivals in
Göttingen and Halle, including the Jonathan Miller/Trevor Pinnock
Tamerlano and René Jacobs' revival of Johann Gottlieb Naumann's Cora
und Alonza; works by Morton Feldman, Mario Davidovsky, Ross Bauer and
Andrew Imbrie from soprano Susan Narucki and California's Empyrean
Ensemble; Kurt Masur and the New York Philharmonic in their season's
final concert, an all-Strauss program; and a production of The Mikado
(currently touring Australia and New Zealand) that holds fastidiously
close to the original D'Oyly-Carte staging — and is delightfully
entertaining as well.
CD REVIEWS: a 10-disc collection of Mengelberg and the Concertgebouw
Orchestra, recorded live by Radio Netherlands; Ginastera's Piano
Concertos; the Vlach String Quartet playing Dvorák; David Lang's
"anti-concerto" The Passing Measures; clarinetist Michael Collins in
Mikhail Pletnev's transcription of Beethoven's Violin Concerto;
guitarist David Leisner's recording of his own Bach transcriptions;
and Richard Strauss' opera Der Liebe der Danaë.
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Enjoy your weekend -- and andante magazine!
Thanks and all the best,
Robert Levine, Editor-in-Chief
Matthew Westphal, Associate Editor
www.andante.com