One of the many aspects I admire about Leif Ove Andsnes' playing, is that he can always extract gold from the soil without the need for a pickax and shovel. By this I mean that unlike some pianists, he doesn't fuss over details or feel the need to micromanage, or manipulate each and every note as if it holds a key to the expressive narrative of a piece. He sees the arc, the long line of a composition, and allows the music to flow and speak for itself. After all, I'm sure Chopin knew what he was doing when he composed these long, allegorical tales he titled 'Ballades'. Un
Alexandra Stréliski is a French-Canadian composer and pianist which made her debut with the album Pianoscope in 2010. Two years after Demolition, she's back with a new album. INSCAPE is out now via Secret City Records. Recorded in the Fall of 2017 at Studio PM in Montreal, INSCAPE is the work of an artist unconcerned with conventions, whose approach of neoclassicism is resolutely current. Produced by Stréliski and Maxime Navert, the attempt was to fill a certain emotional emptiness, a creative urge that commits to taking the listener back to a form of lost sincerity.
From his stint in "Jurassic Park" as a sharp-tongued mathematician to his more recent role in Marvel's "Thor: Ragnarok" as The Grandmaster, Jeff Goldblum has grown to be a true pop-culture icon. The addition of "jazz musician" to Goldblum's vibrant and diverse roster is more than fitting. His new album with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, The Capital Studios Sessions, is like a long lost perfect puzzle piece - the world didn't know it needed Jeff Goldblum singing and performing jazz with Sarah Silverman and Haley Reinhart until he gave it to them. While Goldblum doesn't reinvent jazz the way
Radio New Zealand's Episode 110 pre-views just some of the line-up of international and local musicians who will be appearing at Womad on the 15 – 17th March 2019. The program includes music from Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, along with an interview with Emere Wano, the Event Director and NZ Program Manager talking about her role in Womad and why the Womad festival always makes for a unique musical experience that is always different, sometimes challenging but forever rewarding. Silk Road Ensemble music on this show includes; Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble Feat
From March 28 through April 13, 2019, the Savannah Music Festival (SMF) celebrates its landmark 30th season with a stellar lineup of concerts, recitals, dance parties and presentations, and family-friendly performances in nine venues across Savannah's Historic District. From its origins as Savannah On Stage, SMF has grown to become one of the nation's leading multi-disciplinary musical arts events, distinguished by its commitment to innovative programming and known for attracting top-flight artists and audiences from across the country and overseas. The 30th festival season features man
It's not just established masterworks that guarantee a magical concert. Tafelmusik proved this Thursday evening at the first performance of a program devoted to the now-obscure Baroque-era composer Agostino Steffani. Not only was his music a revelation, the concert itself was beautifully performed by the period-instrument Tafelmusik Orchestra, Chamber Choir and guest soloist, Toronto-based mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó. Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir with mezzo-soprano Krisztina Szabó. Ivars Taurins, conductor plays Toronto's Trinity-St Paul's Centre t
The Analekta label has released the first of three albums that will cover Beethoven's complete Violin Sonatas, performed by two of Canada's most outstanding musicians. Andrew Wan is concertmaster of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and Charles Richard-Hamelin was winner of the silver medal at the 2015 International Chopin Piano Competition. In this first volume, we find the three Sonatas, Op. 30, each highlighting various facets of the composer. Andrew Wan, Charles Richard-Hamelin - Beethoven Violin Sonatas is WFMT: Chicago 'Featured New Release' p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0
Classical guitarists suffer from a lack of exposure that keeps the names of the superstars out of the public's adoration list of musicians. Asked to name a classical guitarist, even devoted concertgoers struggle to come up with a name, a fate not shared by pianists and violinists. Enter the Allegro Guitar Society/Fort Worth Classic Guitar Society to fill this void by presenting recitals presented by universally admired guitarists in both Dallas and Fort Worth venues. It is not unusual for classical music buffs to admit that they don't know about them but that is easily remedied by attending
Pianist Kenny Broberg, Silver Medalist of the 2017 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, returned to Fort Worth Thursday night for a recital on The Cliburn concert series at the Kimbell Art Museum, and led his audience through a superbly conceived, brilliantly executed journey from darkness to light. The program itself was unceasingly fascinating, combining little-known and well-known works in a way that effectively "sold" and underlined the genius of each item. Broberg, 25, is a son of the American Heartland, educated in Houston and Kansas City, but he is definitely worthy of th
There's no change in the top five places of the chart this week – Andrea Bocelli's new album Sì remains on top, followed by Bryn Terfel's compilation album Dreams and Songs, and Evolution by Alexis Ffrench. Firm favourite Einaudi stays at No. 4 with Islands and Sheku Kanneh-Mason continues his chart success with Inspiration at No. 5. Víkingur Ólafsson's latest album Johann Sebastian Bach makes a re-entry to the chart at No. 9, and in anticipation of the festive season, Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra re-enter with the Best of Christ
So when you buy Yo-Yo Ma's new release of the Cello Suites from Sony Classical (which you must), it shouldn't be used as background music. It is your opportunity to get involved by participating with your senses, not just your ears. While the 36-year-old Weilerstein did a remarkable job yesterday (the memorization of two and one half hours of music alone boggles the mind), Yo-Yo Ma's new rendition is less practical and more emotional and precise, more worldly and magical, more solid and wise. This isn't to dish Weilerstein, as her interpretation was truly valid and improved as the night wor
Whether or not you dug the Star Wars prequels, you have to admit the music was on point. "Duel of the Fates"? Incredible, classic stuff, integral to the series' modern identity. "Across the Stars," too, better known as the love theme for Anakin and Padme, is also incredibly memorable, pulling all of the grandeur that John Williams's music is known for together and melding it with a deep, galaxy-rending sense of longing. As noted by the people over at John Williams Fan Network, a new arrangement of "Across the Stars" has recently been released, created by Williams himself for German viol
"Late Show" bandleader Jon Batiste comes home to Louisiana next month for a fundraiser benefiting the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The Dec. 8 event takes place at the Jazz Museum which is in the old U.S. Mint at the edge of the city's historic French Quarter. Dubbed the "Improvisations Gala," the event also will feature performances by the Trombone Shorty Academy, which provides music education to gifted students; and gourmet cuisine from New Orleans restaurants. The museum says the event will fund its musical and education programs in New Orleans, and promote Jazz worldwide. SEE THE Associ
The DePue Brothers Band encompasses a vivid blend of bluegrass, classical, and rock genres. This musically iconic family from Bowling Green, Ohio has been making music together for over 30 years. They were named "Musical Family of America" in 1989 by presidential decree, were the subject of a nationally televised PBS documentary in 1993, and two of the brothers, Jason and Zach, were featured in the film documentary Music from the Inside Out in 2005. Each of the four DePue brothers is a classical virtuoso in his own right, bringing rich and diverse talents to their sound. The brothers cr
Whenever her sixth and seventh grade students play a wrong note, Oak Bluffs strings teacher Rebecca Laird requires them to give her a Swedish Fish, her favorite candy. It only seemed fitting that when a group of her students decided to form a string ensemble, they chose the chewy snack as inspiration for their name: The Swedish Fish Strings. Wednesday morning, the ensemble made up of 11 Oak Bluffs and Vineyard Montessori School students performed for a gym-full of rapt, though occasionally restless, Oak Bluffs School students alongside a special guest, the Grammy-nominated Quartet San F
Rams Head Promotions announces that Multi-instrumentalist George Winston will perform at the Francis Scott Key Auditorium on St. John's College campus in Annapolis, Maryland on Wednesday, March 6, 2019. George Winston began playing organ in 1967. In 1971 he switched to the acoustic piano after hearing recordings from the 1920s and the 1930s by the legendary stride pianists Thomas "Fats" Waller and the late Teddy Wilson. In addition to working on stride piano, he also at this time came up with his own style of melodic instrumental music on solo piano, called folk piano.&
With palpable soul, skilled musicianship and a haunting appeal, international blues guitarist, banjoist and singer Otis Taylor crafts songs that are both lyrically moving and instrumentally complex. With the charisma and authenticity of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker, Taylor has gained a loyal following always eager to see the troubadour's next move. Today and Saturday, Taylor will join other artists for Boulder's 9th annual Trance Blues Festival - an interactive two-day event, he founded, where musicians of all ages, styles and levels share camaraderie, knowledge and t
Classically trained musician Shirley Choi has released three chart-topping mobile apps for children and is working on two more – but she has not received a penny for more than four years of work. She composed the music and songs for her children's e-books, all aimed squarely at the issue of climate change. Each is bilingual, in English and Chinese, and available free of charge on both the iOS and Android platforms. The composer-turned-producer says money is the last thing on her mind. "I get emails that bring tears to my eyes," Choi says. "I received an email from a mother of twin
In 2018, every JB Hi-Fi stocks a range of pop, indie, hip hop and dance and most major streets are dotted with vinyl stores filled with second-hand classics. Quality Records + is a faithful amalgamation of these two concepts. Sitting just off the corner of Glenferrie Road and High Street, Malvern, the store has a familiar feeling to it, left over from its unchanged 1970s architecture from when it was called Pet Sounds. The store's stocked records don't really have a theme either, ranging from classical to opera, all the way to Miles Davis to The Beatles to Kendrick Lamar and Arctic Monkeys.
Dee Dee Bridgewater performs regularly in Boston, and last month she had a two-night stint at Scullers Jazz Club in Allston. The winner of three Grammy awards and a Tony, Dee Dee continues to challenge herself to the delight of audiences around the globe in a career that spans nearly fifty years. "Memphis, I'm Ready," her most recent recording (2017), is an emotional tribute to the soulful tunes and era of the 1960s and 1970s, and a departure from her earlier work that is more readily identifiable as jazz. Her dad was a Memphis DJ known as, "Matt the Platter Cat." "It was music I needed to
One of today's most outstanding young violinists, Ray Chen, has released a new album "The Golden Age." It's "a thrilling collection of chamber and orchestral works," released on the Decca Classics label. Chen handpicked a selection of works that he says celebrate the "golden age" of the violin, "not only in terms of repertoire, but also in terms of performance style and ingenuity." While centered on Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1, the album features works performed by Chen's "Made in Berlin" quartet (members of the Berlin Philharmonic), as well as pieces and arrangements
Margo Price and Late Show bandleader Jon Batiste will lead 2019 Tibet House Benefit Concert, taking place February 7th 2019 at New York's Carnegie Hall. New Order's Bernard Sumner, Philip Glass and Chris Robinson Brotherhood also taking part in 32nd annual event. Proceeds from the concert benefit the work of Tibet House US, a non-profit educational institution and cultural embassy founded in 1987 at the request of Dalai Lama to ensure the survival of the unique Tibetan civilization. The 2018 benefit featured performances by Glass as well as Patti Smith, Carly Simon, Angel Olsen, Blood
The Charleston Library Society will present pianist Joel Fan in recital on Thursday, Nov. 15. Experience the exhilarating art of Joel Fan, who uses his talents to cross musical boundaries. During the last 2 seasons, Fan performed with the New York Philharmonic, Odessa Philharmonic, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonic in concerto performances of Rachmaninov, Beethoven, and Messiaen. He has collaborated with leading conductors and soloists such as cellist Yo-Yo Ma in Beethoven's Triple Concerto. Don't miss out on this very special guest appearance! In recent years, Fan has performed with
Around the presidential election of 2016, songwriter Gabriel Kahane decided to take a break from everyday life, escape technology and explore the country by rail. While traveling, he aspired to engage in conversation--but not argue--with strangers of all types of background. This is his brief but spectacular take on how conversations in train dining cars can lead to "radical empathy." Judy Woodruff: Songwriter Gabriel Kahane wrote his latest album, "Book of Travelers," while riding a train across the United States following the 2016 presidential election. In tonight's Brief But Spec
The fiendishly difficult Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by Johann Sebastian Bach have always been a part of Hilary Hahn's musical life. Ms. Hahn began her musical studies with her first teacher, Klara Berkovich, and at age 10 was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia to study with Jascha Brodsky, who devoted a part of each lesson to solo Bach. At age 17, Hilary Hahn recorded her first CD, entitled Hilary Hahn Plays Bach, which featured her performances of Bach's Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Partita No. 1 in B minor, and Partita No. 2 in D minor. Now, at age 38, Hilary
This season, approximately 700 families in New York City, across the country, and around the world will take part in Carnegie Hall's Lullaby Project, a program which pairs pregnant women and new parents with professional artists to write personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding child development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. In New York City, the project will reach parents at 15 different sites, including healthcare settings, homeless shelters, high schools, foster care, and correctional facilities. Extending across the country and
Anthony Roth Costanzo has been hailed by NPR as "a Countertenor For The 21st Century" and he's made it his mission to make opera mainstream again. That's no easy task for a genre that's struggled to connect with contemporary audiences. But Costanzo believes through collaboration with musicians, artists, filmmakers, and fashionistas - opera can reach anyone. Costanzo's debut album - ARC on Decca GOLD pairs arias of Philip Glass and Handel, as he performs works of baroque master G. F. Handel and minimalist 20/21st century composer Philip Glass, all played by the orchestra
Jeff Goldblum is a dish best served in person, but for anyone unable to attend one of his performances with the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, his long-in-the-making debut album evokes a comparable front-and-center experience. On The Capitol Studios Sessions, Goldblum turns the studio into a sophisticated club. He captures the warmness and personality of a live big band jazz performance while maintaining studio quality instrumental and vocal performances. Much in the way Steve Martin has warmed up his audience to the world of bluegrass, Jeff Goldblum has built a not-so-secret second career
This is about the 3rd time Impulse! has released a posthumous album with Charlie Haden, this time with pianist Brad Mehldau from a 2007 concert in Mannheim Germany. Judging by the high quality of all of these albums, it causes one to think how much more brilliant material is in their vaults. What else are we missing? This collection of piano/bass duets oozes with sublime swing; you can feel the comradery between the sensitive kindred spirits throughout these essentially spontaneous conversations. There is plenty of room for exquisite soloing, but most of the time after stating their the
Electric guitarist John Scofield, winner of multiple Grammy Awards, has a knack for staying a step ahead of musical trends. In hundreds of jazz settings, "Sco" and his signature Ibanez AS200 guitar and Fender Reverb amplifier have created a unique style and sound that have earned him a popularity beyond jazz's usual audience. "It doesn't feel like I'm ahead of the [curve] at all," Scofield told me, from his home in upstate New York. "Maybe musicians are more attuned to what's happening than the public, just because we're so obsessed with music. But I try not to follo
If anyone doubts the astonishing range and quality of classical music recordings being made today – and, I hope, regular readers of these pages would harbour no such perception – then they should really take heed of this month's releases. Choosing the Editor's Choices is always a difficult task, but this month it was doubly so given just how many recordings had drawn such heart-felt plaudits from our critics. That two major labels should produce extraordinary piano records from leading young artists as different in approach as Igor Levit's deeply thought-out meditation on li
Take a bow Jeff Goldblum who, with a little help from friends Imelda May, Haley Reinhart, Sarah Silverman and Grammy-winning trumpeter Till Bronner, transports us into a chic cabaret club for an evening with Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra. Goldblum leads from the piano throughout, engaging in jokes and banter with his fellow performers, in a live set recorded in Studios A and B at Capitol Records in LA. Larry Klein is the producer and he ought to be pleased with Goldblum's opening number, "Cantaloupe Island", by Herbie Hancock, one of his many celebrated artists
Violinist Rachel Barton Pine, Cedille Records' best-selling artist and longtime advocate for music by Black composers, performs a program of blues-influenced classical works for solo violin and violin and piano by Black composers of the 20th and 21st centuries on Blues Dialogues: Music by Black Composers, her newest Cedille Records album. Pianist Matthew Hagle, Pine's longtime recital partner, joins her on their third album together on Cedille and Pine's 21st for the Chicago-based label. 'Blues Dialogues' features several world-premiere recordings: Noel Da Costa'
One of the world's foremost fingerstyle guitarists and harp-guitarists, Muriel Anderson is the first woman to have won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship. Her CD "Nightlight Daylight" was chosen as one of the top 10 CDs of the decade by Guitar Player Magazine and her "Heartstrings" recording accompanied the astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery. She has performed/recorded with Chet Atkins, Les Paul, Victor Wooten and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. Her obvious joy of music, humor and her facility across the genres of folk, classical, jazz, bluegrass and international music is
Celebrated violinist Hilary Hahn is out with a new album of solo works by J.S. Bach and it's the WRTI: Philadelphia Classical Album of the Week. This new Bach recording completes a cycle she started at age 17, when she chose for her debut album two of Bach's three partitias and one of his three sonatas. Now, in Hilary Hahn Plays Bach, she's recorded the remaining one partita and two sonatas. When Hilary recorded the first three works back in 1997 at age 17, she wasn't intending to record the complete set. "Three of the pieces fit very well into a CD and
There must be a dozen ways to process the idea of a double-length, career-spanning album in which the long-running pop band Hanson performs while backed by an orchestra. You could study the new symphonic arrangements, courtesy of Oscar winner David Campbell (a.k.a. Beck's dad), and pick apart how they compare to the originals. You could examine the trend of veteran bands performing with orchestras - even Hanson's pal "Weird Al" Yankovic is doing it - as a way of refreshing their catalogs. You could question the appeal of the idea to anyone outside a preexisting pool of diehards.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} ECM has just released; Bach's six cello suites, played on the viola by one of the instrument's greatest exponents, Kim Kashkashian. The suites were once described by Pablo Casals as "the very essence of Bach…a whole radiance of space and poetry pours forth from them." These qualities are in abundance in the present version, recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters i
Saturday's Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO) concert at Hilbert Circle Theatre-the second over the weekend-satisfied the demands of high expectation while squelching any lingering apprehension concerning the hype. If you add up the ages of Music Director Krzysztof Urbanski, who is in his eighth season with the ISO, and soloist Jan Lisiecki, you still fall short of the average concert goer's number of trips around the sun by about five years. But I don't want to dwell on how young-young for classical music, that is-they are; the merit, as I suggest, was rather in the nuanced, lively, and
In episode 839 of Punto Radio's "ANIMAJAZZ", for tonight - Tuesday 6 November is Seven Octaves - 'Who Can I Turn To' from 'The New Scene.' Sarah Vaughan fully embraced the best pop music of her lengthy career, and her 1966 release "The New Scene" is ample evidence - buoyed with exuberant and thoughtful interpretation. It was this enthusiasm that inspired and fueled jazz pianist Kenny MacKenzie to recreate the album instrumentally - with brand new and often exotic arrangements that borrow elements from 1950's space-age pop. This is the first time Kenny ha
Pianist Hélène Grimaud new Deutsche Grammophon album Memory explores the nature of recollection through a series of exquisite pianistic miniatures, with a choice of repertoire embracing everything from impressionistic reveries by Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folk-like melodies of Valentin Silvestrov. The recording addresses music's unique ability to bring images of the past back to life in the present moment, to conjure up vivid evocations of time and place. Memory and music make perfect partners. Both are fleeting, never fixed, always subject to interpret
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} Pianist Hélène Grimaud new Deutsche Grammophon album Memory explores the nature of recollection through a series of exquisite pianistic miniatures, with a choice of repertoire embracing everything from impressionistic reveries by Chopin and Debussy to the timeless, folk-like melodies of Valentin Silvestrov. The recording addresses music's unique ability to bring images of the past
The mandolin is not commonly featured at classical music concerts, and the accordion even less so. Both instruments will be highlighted, however, when the Friends of Chamber Music presents the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra in concert Nov. 7 at Helzberg Hall. Mandolinist Avi Avital and accordionist Ksenija Sidorova will perform a concerto for mandolin and accordion, which the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra commissioned from composer Benjamin Wallfisch. The program, "Stars Aligned," also includes music by Bach and composers well known for their film music: Franz Waxman, Nino Rota and Miklós R&o
Jeff Goldblum's life is like a jazz piece: his acting improvisational, his style unpredictable. He's made an art of being offbeat. "I'm a strange figure," he told Anthony Mason, before turning the tables on his interviewer: "I like that hearty laugh. I'd like to hear you sing!" "Oh, no, you wouldn't," Mason said. Goldblum has starred in two of the nineties' biggest blockbusters, as a computer geek who saves the planet in "Independence Day," and a math whiz who fights off dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park." Suddenly, at 66, he's become … a fashion icon,
Driftwood Percussion will perform Anna Thorvaldsdottir's piece "Aura" for four percussionists, in a close circle, at The Roundhouse on Saturday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. as part of Music on Main's Modulus Festival. The Icelandic composer's "Hrím," for chamber orchestra was written in 2010 as a commission for The UCSD New Music Ensemble, was intended as a companion piece to Ligeti's chamber concerto. Hrím is written for chamber orchestra (flute, oboe/also plays english horn, clarinet, bass clarinet, horn, trombone, piano/also plays celeste, 2 violins, viola, cello and d
A knowing laugh rippled through the Academy of Music as Tony Bennett leaned against the piano and recited the opening line of "This Is All I Ask." Everyone in that audience, from the front row to the upper balconies, was keenly aware that the charmer crooning "As I approach the prime of my life" is 92 years old, an icon who has seen several primes come and ago over the course of a remarkable lifetime. The reactions throughout Bennett's performance on Friday night took that unavoidable fact into account. Occasionally that meant wild applause for a simple touch that would have passed
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County recently announced the launch of the 11th season of its internationally acclaimed Jazz Roots series with "Leonard Bernstein 100 and Beyond," a centennial celebration of one of America's greatest and best-loved music superstars, on Friday, Nov. 9. The one-night-only tribute to the world-renowned composer, conductor and pianist features performances by vocalists Ann Hampton Callaway and Jon Secada, saxophonist Kirk Whalum, pianist Shelly Berg and the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra. Berg is the Jazz Roots artistic ad
If you've never heard a countertenor sing, the first time can be a shock. And if your first countertenor happens to be Anthony Roth Costanzo, he's joyfully going to exploit that shock. "When I go into a room and people haven't heard a countertenor, and they think ‘What the hell is going on? Why is this guy singing like that?' I love that," he says. "I love using those 30 seconds of shock to bring people in and to make them really listen to what this music is." Well, the opportunity to lean in and really listen to Anthony Roth Costanzo on your own time has arrived,
Todd Rundgren will perform at the Wilma on Sunday, Nov. 4. To label Rundgren would be to work against him. While playing his portion in various blues-rock and English-style hybrid groups to his parts in garage rock-punk and psychedelia bands, Rundgren has somehow distanced himself from the label of genre-based artist. Though he's often thought of as a pure rock guitarist, he has flirted with everything from jazz to more pop-oriented themes. "My dad wouldn't allow rock ‘n' roll in the house," said Todd Rundgren, a nominee of the 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class. "I had to list
Saxophonist Phil Woods, who was born on November 2, 1931, served as the crucial link between the bebop saxophonists of the 1940s and the post-bop artists of the '50s, '60s and beyond. A clear disciple of Charlie Parker, Woods would eventually go on to transform the bebop idiom into his own unique language, one that would be met by both broad appeal (he was the featured soloist on the 1975 Steely Dan hit Doctor Wu) and critical acclaim. "Samba DuBois," from his stellar 1974 album Musique Du Bois, showcased both his profound mind for improvisation and his near-flawless technique, wh
When it comes to talking about his new album, William Shatner is like a kid on Christmas morning. "I'm scared, I'm frightened, by how good I think the album is," says the 87-year-old TV icon. The new Christmas CD, "Shatner Claus," features mainly holiday standards such as "Jingle Bells," "Little Drummer Boy" and "White Christmas." Shatner gets festive with a jingle jam session with keyboardist Rick Wakeman, guitarist Todd Rundgren, and flutist Ian Anderson. READ THE FULL CityNews1130 ARTICLE
He should have been exhausted, but instead played the Tiny Desk with incredible stamina, holding a single trumpet note that lasted longer than most people can hold their breath. In the days just before this performance, Nicholas Payton played at the Joy of Jazz Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, then Santiago, Chile and, finally, New York City. A member of his team drove them the four hours from NYC so he could nap in the car and be ready to play. Payton dazzled the audience, simultaneously playing his trumpet and a Fender Rhodes. It's his signature,
Pianist Igor Levit needed only one hand, in the opening piece of his solemn, deeply felt recital at the Herbst Theatre on Thursday, Nov. 1, to conjure a meeting of musical minds and souls. With his performance of the famous Chaconne from Bach's Violin Partita No. 2, in Brahms' arrangement for the left hand alone, this fearless 31-year-old Russian-born artist put himself in a probing, intimate conversation with both the Bach original and Brahms' prismatic interpretation. From the meditative statement of the opening subject to a throbbing bass pattern, desperate runs and hovering chords, the
Eight years after her first self-released, Alexandra Stréliski unveils INSCAPE via Secret City Records. Recorded in the Fall of 2017 at Studio PM in Montreal, INSCAPE is the work of an artist unconcerned with conventions, whose approach of neoclassicism is resolutely current. Produced by Stréliski along with Maxime Navert (who also co-produced Pianoscope), the attempt was to fill a certain emotional emptiness, a creative urge that commits to taking the listener back to a form of lost sincerity. Catch Stréliski on the attached clip, performing two of her new songs, B
Today, Andrea Bocelli becomes the first classical singer to top the Official UK Album Chart since 1994, when The Three Tenors reached the top spot. Bocelli's Sì was released on 26 October and was this week battling for Number 1 against stiff competition from the soundtrack for A Star is Born – starring Lady Gaga – and Tom Odell's album Jubilee Road. Bocelli's album is his first album of all-new material in 14 years and features duets with the likes of pop star Dua Lipa, crossover star Josh Groban and soprano Aida Garifullina. It's released on the Decca/Sugar record la
Chicago Jazz Magazine founder, Mike Jeffers, talks with Patricia Barber about her early years growing up in Chicago, Iowa and Nebraska, studying phycology in college and then following her passion for music and moving back to Chicago to start her career. The discussion leads to her years at the famed Gold Star Sardine Bar in Chicago where she performed 6 nights a week to a packed house while building her name and developing her musical concepts. They discuss her recording contract with Premonition Records and selling over 120,000 copies of her album Modern Cool which
Maria Schneider conducts her own jazz orchestra that can blast like a big band and also play paradoxically intimate. And she is a consummate songwriter who takes a classical music approach to composing jazz. To delve into Schneider's creative process, Studio 360 followed the composer in 2013 and 2014 as she was putting together her album "The Thompson Fields." Host Kurt Andersen first meets up with Schneider in her apartment in New York where she was still tinkering with the harmonies and struggling to finish the album's eponymous song, "The Thompson Fields" - inspired
Esteemed violinist Anne Akiko Meyers will perform tonight at Edmond OK's Armstrong Auditorium, with distinguished American conductor Gerard Schwarz and the Mozart Orchestra of New York. Meyers is one of the most in-demand violinists in the world, renowned for her passionate performances, purity of sound and deeply poetic interpretations. She has forged a successful career in both the performance and recording arenas, appearing with the world's preeminent conductors and leading symphony orchestras. Her insightful interpretations of both traditional and contemporary repertoire attract wor
The 53-year-old pianist-organist-keyboardist's list of collaborators runs deep among improvisation-centric heavy hitters: Medeski Martin & Wood bandmates Billy Martin and Chris Wood since 1991, composer-arranger-multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh, pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph, The Meters' George Porter Jr. and Zigaboo Modeliste, virtuoso guitarists John Scofield and Warren Haynes. "It's kind of like whoever you collaborate with it's gonna make for a different experience depending on what their musical language is, … what they're into," M
On the heels of a successful 30-year career as a revered classical flutist, circa 1999, Susan Palma-Nidel embarked on a mission to explore music that is virtually unknown outside its own, cloistered universe. For decades, the flutist has adored and been intrigued by the nuanced musical forms of Portugal (Fado being only one such form), and was astonished to learn that outside the country – even in most of the Lusofone world – Portuguese music is virtually unknown. In 2014 during a visit to Portugal, through friends, she made contact with some of the finest music
French officials say famed musician Yo-Yo Ma will perform at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in a World War I anniversary event. The war ended 100 years ago on November 11, 1918. More than 16 million people were killed, 9 million of them soldiers. The fighting lasted almost four years, four months. At the time of the fighting, World War I was often spoken of as "the war to end all wars." Now, it is often called "The Great War." Joseph Zimet is director of France's First World War Centenary Mission. He says Ma will lead a field of "great international artists" during the November 11 ceremony cl
For the day, a "Kissin Arts Center" seemed more apt a name for Seoul Arts Center. Before the show on Sunday, fans listened to the Russian pianist's songs as warm-up, and after his performance was over, they queued up in line to get his autograph on his book Memoirs and Reflections. The art center was filled with the sheer energy of Evgeny Kissin, a 47-year-old Russian classic pianist. His performance - Chopin's Nocturne F Minor, Schumann's Piano Sonata No. 3, Rachmaninoff's Preludes Op.23 and Op.32 – boasted a perfect ratio between perseverance, delicacy, passion, and flexib
Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer, and Zakir Hussain come to Greenville SC's Peace Center on Tuesday, Nov. 6. Fleck has spent over 40 years redefining his chosen instrument, the banjo, into something beyond what pioneers like Uncle Dave Macon or Grandpa Jones could ever have imagined. Sure, players like Earl Scruggs and J.D. Crowe took the instrument beyond the basics of bluegrass in their respective times, but Fleck has blazed trails that no one ever even considered. Along with musicians like Dobro player Jerry Douglas and mandolin player Sam Bush and a few others, Fleck pushed bl
It has been 12 years since conductor Daniel Barenboim last stepped onto the podium at Symphony Center to lead the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. And the orchestra's mighty massing of stellar musicians has shifted considerably since he served as its music director from 1991 to 2006. But on Monday, at an intimate press conference celebrating his return visit to the city, Barenboim expressed his delight at what will be a two-part homecoming. First, he will stand in front of the CSO again for three performances (Nov. 1, 2 and 3) of "Ma Vlast" ("My Homeland"), a collection of six symphonic poem
ECM has just released a new recording of Bach's six cello suites, played on the viola by one of the instrument's greatest exponents, Kim Kashkashian. The suites were once described by Pablo Casals as "the very essence of Bach…a whole radiance of space and poetry pours forth from them." These qualities are in abundance in the present version, recorded at the American Academy of Arts and Letters in New York in November and December 2016, and February 2017. In conjunction with this new release KK has made some time avail. to speak with classical radio today November 1,
"This project, Mirror in Mirror, really was a very collaborative process, but it took ten years to create. And just the recording itself was over a two-year time span. That's a lot of traveling. We were in three different studios - from the UK to New York City, New York state - to record all the various pieces on the album." Every time she releases a new recording, violinist Anne Akiko Meyers says it's her last. That was 37 albums ago. Her latest is a highly personal collection. It allows her to collaborate with five of the six featured composers. "I just have such a passion to
On September 27, 2018 WQXR: New York presented an exclusive performance and conversation with soprano Nadine Sierra, celebrating the release of her debut album ‘There's a Place for Us' on Deutsche Grammophon. She sang selections from the album, as well as some of her favorite arias, accompanied by pianist Bryan Wagorn. 2018 winner of the Metropolitan Opera's prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award, Sierra who signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Gold, recorded 'There's a Place for Us' with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton o
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo's ARC debut solo album pairing arias of Philip Glass and Handel on Decca Gold happens in conjunction with an hour-long, live interdisciplinary installation presented by the avant-garde fashion/art company VISIONAIRE and producer CATH BRITTAN. First appearing at the Opera Philadelphia's Festival O18 (at the Barnes Foundation) on September 22-23, 30, and set for New York City (produced with National Sawdust at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, who co-present) on November 26-27 brings together an unprecedented collaboration from the worlds of
Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds‘ new album Re:member, released this August, was a beguiling combination of intricate, impeccable craftmanship and human warmth, capable of scaling heights few of his contemporaries can match. A collection of often beautiful keyboard/strings pieces underpinned by subtle electronica, it achieved extra layers of harmonic complexity through Arnalds' use of his pioneering Stratus technology, which allows notes played on a main piano to generate alternative notes on two further pianos. Seeing these pianos ‘play themselves' on stage was just
Like a pop musician touring a new album release, pianist Igor Levit comes to town on the strength of his inventive double-disc set for Sony Classical. Titled "Life," the release stands as a musical memorial for a close friend killed in an accident, but also as a testament to the potency and imagination of Levit's keyboard artistry. The programmatic themes are those of death and remembrance, as borne out in music of an elegiac bent. For his San Francisco - Herbst Theatre recital on Thursday, Nov. 1, Levit has extracted music that features conversations across the decades and centuries -
On Sunday, November 18 at 4 pm, sought-after violinist Rachel Barton Pine takes the stage at Richardson Auditorium to perform Niccoló Paganini's fiendish Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 6 with the Princeton Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Rossen Milanov. Bookending the violin concerto are Leos Janácek's Sinfonietta and Igor Stravinsky's Divertimento from The Fairy's Kiss. Maestro Milanov hosts Ms. Pine at a pre-concert discussion of the program at 3pm. A leading interpreter of the great classical masterworks, violinist Rachel Barton Pine thr
The boys who make up the choral group Libera are normal South London kids aged 7 to 16 years. The music they produce is truly extraordinary. The group released their new album 'Beyond' on 12 October 2018 through Invisible Hands Music, and their presence and prowess is already being felt on the billboard, amazon, CLASSIC fM, and Official Chart Company charts. They have also been presented with the YouTube award for 100K subscribers, as their channel now have 147K. Libera make beautiful, progressive albums in the classical and the ambient/new age style, and 'Beyond' was eagerl
Of all the publicity heaped on the Supreme Court of the United States recently this CD definitely stands out as the most unusual but also the most joyous. Notorious RBG in Song is something of a first, a CD celebrating one of our living Supreme Court Justices. Ginsburg's son James is the founder of this wonderful Chicago based recording label and clearly shares in the admiration of this physically diminutive intellectual powerhouse of a justice. The surprise for this writer is to hear the compositional skills of the wonderful soloist Patrice Michaels (also James Ginsburg's w
At 75, pianist, composer and NEA Jazz Master Kenny Barron likes to work with musicians born well after he started making his reputation as a teenage wunderkind contributing tunes and arrangements to Yusef Lateef's seminal 1961 world jazz album "The Centaur and the Phoenix" (Riverside) and touring and recording with trumpet legend Dizzy Gillespie. He opens a run of performances around the region on Sunday at Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society with his blazing quintet featuring trumpeter Mike Rodriguez, tenor saxophonist and Berkeley High alum Dayna Stephens, bassist Kiyoshi Kitagawa and d
Jon Batiste has a new website which only lists his 2018 album Hollywood Africans in its "Music" link. But he was also prominent featured on The Music of John Lewis with Jazz at Lincoln Center with Wynton Marsalis (Blue Engine Records, 2017) and of course he has others too including a remarkably avant-garde sounding one The Process (MOD Technologies, 2014) which he made with bassist Bill Laswell and drummer Chad Smith. Hollywood Africans is special not only because it has been co-produced by the ubiquitous T Bone Burnett who might seem most appropriate
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} Guitarist Sharon Isbin joins the Santa Rosa Symphony this Saturday through Monday, playing the Villa-Lobos Guitar Concerto, as part of a program called ‘Dancing Across Time.' The Grammy Award-winning Isbin, who founded and runs the Guitar department at Juilliard, actually started studying the instrument by chance when she was a child – what she really wanted to do was study science and rocketry. The Villa-Lobos' Concerto is the centerpiece of a program that also includes; Kodály's
Keyboardist Marco Benevento announced his first tour of 2019. Marco Benevento Winter Tour 2019 will find Marco, drummer Andy Borger and bassist Karina Rykman making 11 stops in the Southeast early next year. Up first is a performance at Soul Kitchen in Mobile on January 23. From there, the trio visits Birmingham, Atlanta, Nashville, Charlotte, Charleston, Jacksonville, Tampa and Orlando before concluding the tour at Blackbird Ordinary in Miami on February 2. Tickets go on sale this Friday, November 2 at 10 a.m. ET. SEE DATES ON JamBase PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; f
Little is known of the origins of the Solo Suites, usually performed on the cello. No manuscript in Bach's hand survives, and in the copy produced by his second wife, Anna Magdalena, markings for slurs, articulation, and dynamics are sparse even by baroque standards. The suites may actually have been composed for the violoncello da spalla, an instrument smaller than the cello but larger than the viola, and played while held on the shoulder (some modern players use a neckstrap). But what are problems for the musicologist present a world of latitude to the interpreter, in this case master
The Ashokan Center in New York recently hosted their initial bluegrass camp, after successfully holding instructional camps for old time, klezmer, and other forms of traditional music and dance in Saugerties, NY. Faculty included Tony Trischka teaching banjo, Claire Lynch working with vocalists, Matt Flinner for mandolin, Becky Buller for fiddle, Scott Nygaard for guitar, and Mike Bub for bass. A number of associate instructors were also on hand to assist with the various classes and jams. Tony Watt, camp organizer, has shared this nice overview of the camp experience. "The first-ev
Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho will release his first Mozart recording, Piano Concerto No. 20 & Sonatas, via Deutsche Grammophon on November 16. Cho was fortunate that his earliest memories of Mozart were fixed by his parents' recordings of two of the composer's greatest operas: The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute. They opened the young musician's heart to the limitless compassion of Mozart's music, which continues to resonate with Cho. "When I play, I try to play with my heart, sincerely," he observes. "I try to convey my feelings and emotion – I've
Bay Area audiences will be able to experience two events featuring three top pianists this weekend in programs covering a wide range of musical eras and styles. Appearances by violinist Hilary Hahn and the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra are also waiting in the wings, and the Young People's Symphony Orchestra marks a special anniversary. Pierre-Laurent Aimard and Tamara Stefanovich - who are partners offstage as well as on - come to Berkeley this weekend for an unusual duo recital. Igor Levit, who earlier this year won the prestigious Gilmore Award, arrives in San Francisco the same nigh
Monumentalised by the Victorians as Handel's Largo, Ombra mai fu is the opening number in his opera Serse, and for all its ironic touches - the object of Xerxes' veneration is a plane tree - has to be delivered solemnly, as it was here by Franco Fagioli. It seemed early in the evening for a showstopper, but so ravishing was the singing that it could hardly go unacknowledged. The superstar countertenor had plenty of opportunity elsewhere to display his astonishing technique, ranging through three octaves, with a voluptuous tone and variety of register that enabled him to project th
Ahead of their full line-up announcement, GroundUp Music Festival 2019 has announced that David Crosby And The Lighthouse Band will be performing at the festival which is set to take place in Miami, Florida February 8-10, 2019. David Crosby And The Lighthouse Band was assembled in 2016 by Crosby with Becca Stevens, Michael League, and Michelle Willis. Their newest release Here If You Listen, the follow up to Crosby's 2017 record Sky Trails, was released worldwide on October 26th. SEE THE ShowTheShow PAGE p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; co
Midori - made the front page of the New York Times when she was just 15 years old. She was performing at the famed Tanglewood Music Festival under the baton of Leonard Bernstein. At the time, she was already four years into her career, which she launched with a surprise guest appearance with the New York Philharmonic as the guest soloist at the 1982 New Year's Eve Gala. In the three decades since, Midori, who teaches at the Curtis Institute of Music, has carved out an impressive international career. On Friday, Nov. 2, she returns to Tucson to perform an encore to her 2012 Tucson Sympho
Tilda Swinton the actress and artist, co-directed, with partner Sandro Kopp, a music video. What's the music? Handel! Specifically, an operatic aria sung by countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo. The video? Swinton's dogs playing on a beach! It's good and fun and relaxing and a pure joy to watch. The project is part of a series of videos made for Anthony Roth Costanzo's newest work, being performed in a month in New York City. Visionaire and countertenor Costanzo's "interactive, multi-faceted performance of Glass Handel" includes nine videos, including Swinton's. Al
For violinist Hilary Hahn, Friday's concert at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater was a homecoming, in more ways than one. It marked the lone stop in the region on the Baltimore native's ongoing international tour. And for this inquisitive and searching musician, it also was a return to the foundation and summit of the violin repertory, the solo works of Bach - music she recorded for her teenage debut album from 1997 and which she now revisits as a fully fledged artist. Hahn's recital, featuring Bach's first sonata and the first and second partitas, was an exhibition of
A note from WGBH: Boston....At WCRB, we are always looking for fill-in hosts who are engaging speakers, are knowledgeable about classical music, and have flexible schedules. This is a great opportunity for a classical music fan with a passion for expanding the audience for classical music and an appreciation for radio. This is a fill-in, as-needed position, with the possibility of up to 25 hours per week. We're seeking all ranges of experience, from the newcomer to the seasoned professional. The Radio Announcer must be an appealing on-air presenter of classical music with a friendly
For the very first time, Teodor Currentzis and his orchestra MusicAeterna have recorded a work by Gustav Mahler – his mighty Sixth Symphony. The new recording was just released on 26 October. The CD and digital will be followed by the release of the recording on vinyl in December. Long an admirer of Mahler's works, Currentzis states that he considers the 6th Symphony to be "…a masterpiece"… and Mahler to be "a great interpreter who takes a simple idea, finds the beauty inside it and amplifies it for all to see…he crafts something magical". from
Gold Medal winner of the 2015 Chopin Competition, Seong-Jin Cho immediately became a classical rock star in his native South Korea. His rapid ascent was aided by a high-powered Deutsche Grammophon contract and a swelling of national pride in his being the first Korean winner of the venerable Chopin Competition. Clearly, the slender 24-year-old pianist's youthful good looks don't hurt either. One got a strong sense of Cho's remarkable popularity with Friday's turnout in Hyde Park, as the usually low-key University of Chicago Presents venue took on the trappings of a Hollywood r
This week's Alt. Latino playlist lineup includes a special premiere of "Como La Flor" by Miami-based duo Dracula, an acoustic rendition with all the magic and heartbreak of Selena's original. Luis Fonsi and Ozuna, Khalid and Empress Of, and Natalia Clavier also released singles this week, bringing a wide variety of of Latin influence to the mainstream. Flutist Susan Palma-Nidel rounds out the list with a thoughtful exploration of the Portuguese music form fado. I have two friends who recently traveled through Lisbon and they sent back photos that showed exquisite charm and beaut
Stan Whippo has hosted the live, four-hour classical music show Matinee every weekday on our sister station, Classical 94.1 WBNI, for more than twenty years. And being in his early nineties, Stan has decided that now feels like the right time to retire. Last year, WBOI's Julia Meek had an opportunity to talk with him about what classical music means to him, and how it drives his passion for public radio. Today we revisit that conversation, as Stan presents his final show, and on behalf of all the staff, volunteers, and listeners in our community, we thank you, Stan Whippo, for shari
One might have thought that the prospect of Daniil Trifonov playing two of Rachmaninov's piano concertos would have been enough to sell a disc without any need for extra marketing gimmicks – Trifonov is perhaps the most exciting pianist to have emerged internationally in the last 30 years, and peerless today as a Rachmaninov interpreter. Yet the album comes encumbered with an odd, awkward title – "Destination Rachmaninov. Departure" – and festooned with moody images of the pianist in an old-fashioned railway carriage. It's strange packaging for one of the outstanding relea
Yo-Yo Ma leans in to the first of Bach's six suites for solo cello, alone on a vast, otherwise empty stage. It's a muggy September evening at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley, California, a 10,000-seat outdoor amphitheater carved into the middle of a busy, urban college campus, normally host to touring rock bands. It's sold out, of course-Yo-Yo Ma, the living embodiment of quality in classical music, will sell out any venue he plays. Throughout the performance, which lasts 2½ hours without an intermission, people stomp up and down the aisles spilling their cups of beer, spectators g
Tomorrow evening - October 26th at NYC's Rubin Museum in New York, Kavita Shah presents a special performance of "Folk Songs of Naboréa" This represents Sha's most ambitious work to date, and was named by NPR as one of the Top 10 Jazz Performances of 2017. First premiered in November 2017 at NYC's Park Avenue Armory, "Folk Songs of Naboréa, is an interdisciplinary song-cycle for seven voices by the composer/ethnographer which imagines the folk music of a futuristic, post-nuclear society in which humans have abandoned technology and nat
">Mirror in Mirror marks superstar violinist Anne Akiko Meyers 36th studio album and is one of her most personal projects to date. With the exception of Ravel, The Billboard Top Selling Classical Instrumentalist of the Year collaborated with all of the composers and arrangers on this album. Several of the works were written for her. The music is reflective and spiritual, and weaves a compelling story. Philip Glass' Metamorphosis II is heard in an AAM arrangement commission. The original version inspired Fratres by Arvo Pärt, whose Spiegel im Spiegel (Mirror in Mirror) provides the
Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo's debut solo album pairing arias of Philip Glass and Handel - ARC on Decca Gold takes place in conjunction with the Philadelphia presentation/collaboration with avant-garde fashion/art company Visionaire and producer CATH BRITTAN. GLASS HANDEL, the hour-long, live interdisciplinary installation took place at Opera Philadelphia's Festival O18 (at the Barnes Foundation) on September 22-23, 30, and in will repeat in New York City (produced with National Sawdust at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine, who co-present) on November 26-27. With GLASS HAND
Jeff Goldblum and his long-time band The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra are preparing to release their debut album next month and today we're premiering their new video It Never Entered My Mind. Originally recorded by Miles Davis, the 6-minute track showcases Goldblum's jazz talents and you'll see him in a completely new light. Goldblum will release his debut album The Capitol Studios Sessions on 9th November 2018. Talking about the album, Goldblum says: "I love improvising and that feeling of communication and interplay. It's one of the cornerstones of my acting technique. I see my music in the
I was lucky enough to see violinist Rachel Barton Pine in Los Angeles twice last year with both the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Pasadena Symphony, performing Mozart and Vivaldi. Adroit, sophisticated, vigorous, sensitive and profound only begin to scratch the surface of definitions regarding her multi-faceted playing. Not only is she a master of a variety of styles - from Baroque to Modern - but Pine is also an inspirational coach, a composer, and a champion of new, newfangled and neglected music. Now at 44, she is releasing her 37th (!) disc, the 22nd on Çedille (say-DEE) Reco
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px 'Helvetica Neue'; color: #606060; min-height: 14.0px} The word "cinematic" has been used to describe Alexandra Stréliski's work before, but what exactly does that mean? On paper, cinematic music is created for a specific scene in a film or series, and while her awakening piano ballads have made it on screen, (Dallas Buyers Club, Big Little Lies, Sharp Objects) Stréliski's sound cannot be tied down to only moving pictures. Her pieces on h
The title of pianist Igor Levit's magisterial new release is a misnomer, at least in part. Its main subject is actually death - the pain of it, the mystery, the search for solace or meaning in the aftermath of a loved one's departure (the record was inspired by a close friend's sudden death in a bicycle accident). But just as death casts a single life into relief - highlighting some parts, obscuring or reinterpreting others - Levit's program, consisting primarily of hand-me-downs and transcriptions, explores the way musical meaning changes over time. Brahms reshapes the Bach Chaconne for pi
Encores have never been an afterthought for Hilary Hahn. In recent years, this brilliant violinist has commissioned 27 short solo pieces from as many composers to expand her stash of end-of-concert treats. She might have been expected to pick one on Tuesday, when she gave her first-ever violin-alone recital in New York at Alice Tully Hall as part of Lincoln Center's White Light Festival. But her evening of Bach culminated in the sprawling, majestic Chaconne from the Partita No. 2 - the Everest of the violin repertory. Which one of her commissioned encores would she pick to follow that?
