John Adams Back with the NSO

J. Adams, City Noir (inter alia), Los Angeles Philharmonic, G. Dudamel (2009)
John Adams is coming to the end of his latest visit to Washington: after a four-day residency at the Library of Congress, he is taking the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra this week. As with previous guest stints in the area, with the NSO in 2010 and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in 2007, he paired one of

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Briefly Noted: Egarr's English Suites

J. S. Bach, English Suites,
R. Egarr (harpsichord)
(released on February 12, 2013)
HMU 907591.92 | 141'23"
We always want to hear Richard Egarr play, and the recordings in his ongoing series of the works of J. S. Bach are guaranteed to find their way to my ears. In the latest installment, the six English suites, Egarr uses the same Joel Katzman harpsichord (Amsterdam, 1991, after a 1638 Ruckers

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Bezuidenhout's Mozart Continues

Mozart, Keyboard Music, Vol. 4, K. Bezuidenhout (fortepiano)
(released on January 8, 2013)
HMU 907528 | 71'29"
Kristian Bezuidenhout, in an excellent traversal of the keyboard works of Mozart, continues to furnish jewel-like renditions of pieces you thought you knew but hear in different ways now, as well as others you did not really know and now wonder why not. We have admired the earlier

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'Show Boat', Now That It's Over

It is no secret that Francesca Zambello's decision to include Washington National Opera in her experiments with the American musical, by bringing her production of Show Boat here, struck me as a mistake. Some people think that musicals will somehow usher in a revitalizing audience boom for opera houses: Anne Midgette and Tim Smith both wrote highly about Zambello's production, praising the

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Collard with the BSO

Charles T. Downey, Guest BSO conductor Carlos Kalmar provides expert leadership
Washington Post, May 27, 2013


Saint-Saëns, Piano Concertos, J.-P. Collard, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, A. Previn
In the battle of the area’s major orchestras, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra often outplays the National Symphony Orchestra, section for section. In the past few years, however, the BSO’s

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In Brief: Rite of What Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.) Now you know what to do with your day off tomorrow.





Philippe Herreweghe conducts four Bach cantatas (BWV 73, 44, 48, and 109) plus the motet Komm, Jesu, komm (Johann

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John Adams Residency, Day 3

Adams, Son of Chamber Symphony, ICE, J. Adams (2011)
[REVIEW]
John Adams has not done himself any favors during his residency this week at the Library of Congress. In his programming of the first three concerts, he has put his own music up against the titans of the 20th century: Béla Bartók and Leoš Janáček for Road Movies, and last night it was Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg sandwiching

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Dip Your Ears, No. 139 (Mozart's Many Requiems)

W.A.Mozart, Requiem
S.Cleopbury / The Choir of the King’s College
KGS 002

The Choir of the King’s College has been taken into the publishing-boat of the LSO Live recording specialists who are already producing the eponymous LSO Live label and that of the Mariinsky Orchestra. Their first shot was a double CD of “Nine Lessons & Carols” which featured several new commissions, a small

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John Adams Residency, Day 2

E.-P. Salonen, Lachen verlernt (inter alia), J. Koh (2009)


Adams, Road Movies (inter alia), J. Koh, R. Uchida (2010)Half of the concerts in the Library of Congress's residency with composer John Adams are in the Coolidge Auditorium, with the other half at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, including last night's recital by violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Reiko Uchida. The only apparent

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Whitsun Salzburg: Stravinsky for Dummies

Instigated by little more than mood and circumstance, I’d taken a little sabbatical from concert-going—abstaining for the first time in about ten years from live musical stimuli for any extended amount of time. What better way to end the self-imposed drought than to hop down to Salzburg for a day, to catch a performance at the Whitsun Festival.

The topic this year was “OPFER/SACRIFICE”, with

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John Adams Residency, Day 1

Fellow Traveler: Complete String Quartet Works of John Adams, Attacca Quartet
(released on March 26, 2013)
Azica ACD-71280 | 65'


Beethoven, String Quartets, op. 18/2+3, Quatuor MosaïquesJohn Adams is in town for a couple weeks, curating a residency at the Library of Congress this week and then serving as guest conductor with the National Symphony Orchestra next week. The first concert

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Briefly Noted: Colin Davis's 'Der Freischütz'

Weber, Der Freischütz, C. Brewer, S. Matthews, S. O'Neill, L. Woldt, London Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, C. Davis
(released on May 14, 2013)
LSO Live LS00726 | 122'43"
One way to celebrate the Richard Wagner bicentenary -- he was born on this day in 1813 -- is to spend the day listening to one of the composers from whom he stole shamelessly. Wagner was only eight years old when Carl Maria von

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Picturing --- Pictures

Lens time with Mona
The Louvre, one of the greatest collections of art in the world, is one of the most difficult to visit. The museum is the most popular attraction in France, hands down, and many think they have the secret to a stress-less entry. The Pyramid entrance after 2 pm, or the Carousel entrance -- they both have benefits, but Carousel is my preferred passage.

The energy created by

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Apollo Ensemble's Jewish Baroque

This review, which somehow had disappeared into the Intertube ether, covers a concert heard last week.


Solomon Alexander Hart, The Feast of the Rejoicing of the Law at the Synagogue in Leghorn, Italy, 1850 (The Jewish Museum, New York)
The architecture and decoration of Jewish synagogues was often similar in style to Christian or Islamic structures: Roman-style frescoes in Dura-Europos, the

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Classical Month in Washington: July/August

Last month | Next monthClassical Month in Washington is a monthly feature. If there are concerts you would like to see included on our schedule, send your suggestions by e-mail (ionarts at gmail dot com). Happy listening!

July 4, 2013 (Thu)
8 pm
A Capitol Fourth
National Symphony Orchestra
U.S. Capitol, West Lawn

July 6, 2013 (Sat)
4 pm
Castleton Chamber Players
Music of Mahler
Castleton

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La Maledizione, Hon

Charles T. Downey, Lyric Opera of Baltimore presents a worthwhile ‘Rigoletto’
Washington Post, May 20, 2013


Verdi, Rigoletto, D. Damrau, J. D. Flórez, Ž. Lučić, Semperoper Dresden, F. Luisi (Virgin, 2010)
[READ REVIEW / YouTube]
The world celebrates the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birth this October, but opera companies hardly need any encouragement to stage the Italian composer’s

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In Brief: Almost Wagner's Birthday Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.)





From the Musikverein in Vienna (video embedded at right), Daniele Gatti leads a performance of Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle with the Orchestre National de France

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It's Raining Cats and Cash

There's a cool rain falling in New York City, at the Museum of Modern Art. The Rain Room, by Random International, is a field of falling water that pauses wherever a human body is detected: there may be no need to carry an umbrella again. Think of yourself as Moses. I don't know how many sensors it takes to run this project, but it's quite interesting and fun. The faster you walk, the more you

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Dip Your Ears, No. 138 (Mendelssohn Organ Works)

F.Mendelssohn-B., Organ Works
Yuval Rabin (Braun/Mathis organ of St.Marzellus, CH)
MDG


Felix Mendelssohn B. was fond of organs and organ music and wrote idiomatically for the instrument. You just can’t hear it in his other compositions (think Bruckner, for contrast), and since you just about never hear Mendelssohn’s organ music in recital or concert either, that part of his output—limited

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Summer Music Festivals: U.S.

Soprano Angela Meade
What would Ionarts be covering this summer if we had an unlimited travel budget? Here are our picks for the best performances of opera and classical music being presented by American summer festivals.

CINCINNATI OPERA
This may be the summer for my first visit to Cincinnati Opera, primarily because Angela Meade will be the Donna Anna in their production of Don Giovanni (

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Classical Music Agenda (June 2013)

Summer is at hand, meaning that the pickings get slimmer in the monthly concert agenda for local events. On the other hand, we will also have a summer festival preview coming up, with some of the performances outside of Washington we most want to hear.


Composer James MacMillan
ORCHESTRAS:
Happily the National Symphony Orchestra is extending its season at the Kennedy Center through June, until

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Debussy's 'Jeux', 100 Years Later

Tamara Karsavina (first young lady), Vaslav Nijinsky (young man), and Ludmilla Schollar (second young lady) in Jeux, 1913
As you have doubtless heard by now, we are coming up on the 100th anniversary of the first performance of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. The groundwork of that infamously riotous premiere was laid by the much less notorious debut of a ballet that was in many ways more

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Martina Filjak @ Phillips

Charles T. Downey, At Phillips, pianist Martina Filjak offers unexpected interpretations of familiar works
Washington Post, May 14, 2013


Soler, Keyboard Sonatas 1-15, M. Filjak (Naxos, 2011)
Martina Filjak offered some surprises during her recital Sunday afternoon at the Phillips Collection. The Croatian-born pianist gave sometimes unexpected interpretations of familiar works, paired with

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Farewell to David Finckel

Emerson Quartet:

Haydn, String Quartets


Bartók, String QuartetsDavid Finckel has left the Emerson Quartet, with whom he has performed as cellist since 1979. The group gave their last performance with Finckel on Saturday evening, the conclusion of their Smithsonian Associates concert series at the National Museum of Natural History. As Finckel explained in brief remarks before the second half,

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In Brief: Call Mom Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.)





From last month, John Eliot Gardiner leads a performance of Bach's B Minor Mass, with English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir at Royal Albert Hall. [

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Dip Your Ears, No. 137 (Orchestral Suites Reconstructed)

J.S.Bach, Orchestral Suites
M.Huggett / Ensemble Sonnerie / G.X.Ruiz
Avie

Monica Hugget is one of the baroque music scene’s most cherished pioneer-veterans, co-founder of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra with Ton Koopman and founding member of the Academy of Ancient Music, she also worked with Trevor Pinnock and his English Concert and has led Toronto based Tafelmusik. She is currently the

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For Your Consideration: 'Kiss of the Damned'

Truth be told, I love a good vampire movie: Nosferatu, Frank Langella as Dracula, Fright Night, Guillermo del Toro's Cronos, the Swedish Let the Right One In -- excellent examples have come in lots of different forms. That predilection means that I can also enjoy a truly bad vampire movie, and that is where Kiss of the Damned, the new feature from Xan Cassavetes, comes in. This is the first

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Briefly Noted: 'Such the tenor man told...'

Britten, Songs, I. Bostridge, A. Pappano, X. Yang
(released on May 21, 2013)
EMI 4334302 | 70'15"
As noted earlier this week, the Britten centenary is yielding some welcome recordings of the composer's lesser-known works. Add to the list this disc of Britten's songs performed by tenor Ian Bostridge, who has the optimal type of voice for much of Britten's writing. Britten wrote most of these

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Briefly Noted: 'Giove in Argo'

Handel, Giove in Argo, A. Hallenberg, K. Gauvin, A. Z. Giustiniani, Il Complesso Barocco, A. Curtis
(released on April 9, 2013)
Virgin 50999 72311622 | 156'50"

Previously:
Berenice | Alcina | Ezio
The Handel opera revival continues apace, with the latest work rediscovered being Giove in Argo, first performed at the King's Theater in London on May 1, 1739. The less said about the libretto, a

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Briefly Noted: 'Rape of Lucretia'

Britten, The Rape of Lucretia, I. Bostridge, S. Gritton, A. Kirchschlager, Aldeburgh Festival, O. Knussen
(released on February 5, 2013)
Virgin 50999 60267221 | 105'33"
On November 22nd this year -- St. Cecilia's Day -- Benjamin Britten would have celebrated his 100th birthday. Composer anniversaries are mostly for powering the engines of publicity, but if good performances and recordings come

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Meredith Monk, 'On Behalf of Nature'

Charles T. Downey, Meredith Monk’s ‘On Behalf of Nature’ at Clarice Smith Center
Washington Post, May 6, 2013


Monk, Impermanence (ECM, 2008)
[READ REVIEW]If nature were to rise up and speak in defense of itself, its voice might sound like a Meredith Monk theater piece. That was the goal of Monk’s new work, “On Behalf of Nature,” presented at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center on

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In Brief: First Communion Edition

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to online audio, online video, and other good things in Blogville and Beyond. (After clicking to an audio or video stream, press the "Play" button to start the broadcast.)





Watch the production of Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande from Brussels, directed by Pierre Audi and conducted by Ludovic Morlot, with sets by Anish Kapoor and a cast

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NSO's Russian Tribute to Rostropovich

Schnittke, Viola Concerto, D. A. Carpenter, Philharmonia Orchestra, C. Eschenbach (Ondine, 2009)


Shostakovich, Symphony No. 5, Philadelphia Orchestra, C. Eschenbach (Ondine, 2008)
Christoph Eschenbach is taking the National Symphony Orchestra to Carnegie Hall next weekend, with a program of Russian music in tribute to the ensemble's venerated former music director, Mstislav Rostropovich. The

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Dip Your Ears, No. 136 (A Versatile Viol)

The Versatile Viol
Scottish & Irish Music
Tina Chancey & members of Hesperus
Golden Apple

This 2007 release is for all practical purposes a self-published CD; a tribute to Violist Tina Chancey’s (recorder-playing) husband Scott Reiss who took his life days after contributing to five of the 16 Scottish and Irish early folk songs here. In a technical sense, it’s a ‘vanity release’, except

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Oh Dear, Poor Actaeon

Charles T. Downey, At the Kennedy Center, Opera Lafayette performs Charpentier’s ‘Actéon’
Washington Post, May 4, 2013


M.-A. Charpentier, Actéon, A. Sheehan, Boston Early Music Festival, P. O'Dette, S. Stubbs (cpo, 2010)The vengeful gods of ancient Greece devised devilishly clever punishments. The hunter Actaeon found that out when he glimpsed Artemis bathing in a pool. The goddess, her

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Philadelphia Orchestra

Hilary Hahn: A Portrait (excerpts of Korngold concerto) (DG, 2007)


Bruckner, Symphony No. 7, Orchestre Métropolitain de Montréal, Y. Nézet-Séguin (Atma, 2007)
The Philadelphia Orchestra has survived the past few years of financial and leadership crises, but not without some damage to that venerable institution's reputation. Hopes are high that the tenure of the orchestra's new music director,

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Andrew Tyson, YCA

Charles T. Downey, At Kennedy Center, pianist Andrew Tyson makes debut solo recital
Washington Post, May 2, 2013


Scriabin, Sonata No. 3 (inter alia), E. KissinWhat does it take for a young performer to distinguish himself in the world of classical music? One way is to win a competition, which Andrew Tyson did by taking first prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 2011.

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