Updates: Composers and Violinists

By -

Richard Termine for The New York Times

In a couple of previous posts I mentioned conductor Lorin Maazel violinist Julia Fischer (albeit in separate posts). Vivien Schweitzer of the New York Times gives a review of their joint perfomance on Tuesday.

The review speaks highly of Ms Fischer, "(she) plays with a remarkably sweet tone (evoking melting caramel perhaps) and long, refined phrases that have an operatic quality to them. She played the Mozart with expressive introspection in the Adagio and plenty of spirit in the Gypsy-tinged Rondo. Mozart did not write a cadenza for this concerto, so Ms. Fischer wrote her own, a highly effective piece featuring a dialogue between the upper and lower strings."

Although the review was not skathing for Mr Maazel, it did say, "Mr. Maazel doesn’t seem to have been particularly influenced by historically informed Baroque styles...Mr. Maazel effectively conveyed the stately dignity of this work (despite a few unstately horn blunders), which more closely resembles Bach’s earlier orchestral suites than the later “Brandenburg” Concertos. But for ears attuned to the leaner, crisper and more buoyant sound now associated with Bach, the performance sometimes sounded stodgy."

Yet again an example where the conductor plays an important role. While the performer does a wonderful job, the performance was not as sparkling as it could have been. Looking at the picture above it seems one was excited to be there, the other would rather be somewhere else.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Role of Music in Opera

By -
There are numerous books on the topic, and every composer, librettist, director, singer and audience member has their opinion as to what role the music should play in an opera. In a play without music, the words ought to support the meaning behind a character's actions. However, in the case of action movies, often times the action is what tells the story and there aren't words, just images to forward the plot. We might hear music to accompany action, build tension, but the action tells the story. Musicals tend to speak until the emotion of the moment just "has" to break out in song - unless it's something like "Mama Mia" where the dialog is the rails we travel on between songs; the songs themselves, written before the concept of the musical, are the focus of the production, while the story is secondary. Operas are a different beast. The music provides emotion to the words spoken, but it also plays the role of ambience when there is only action. In ...
Read more

Episode 210b: Joyeuse le départ

By -
Image
Podcast:  Play in new window  |  Download Subscribe:  Apple Podcasts  |  Android  |  Google Play  |  Stitcher  |  TuneIn  |  RSS Provost Cunningham has Transmigrated, but to where! What is Dr Sage going to do with his body? And how can she bring home her friends, Abigail and Erasmus, without also bring home Cunningham? What are they going to say when they find the “skeleton” she’s hiding in her closet? Cast: Eddie Louise Clark  as Dr Sage Chip Clark  as Professor Savant Justin Bremer  as the Narrator Emily Riley Piatt  as Abigail Entwhistle, Calypso & Dean Stewart Written by  Eddie Louise Theme music by  Unwoman Sound Design by  Chip Michael
Read more

Teaching Composition – What are we trying to achieve

By -
In the process of learning composition I have spent time with a number of instructors who have encouraged me to write twelve-tone, pitch-class, electro-acoustic and other forms of experimental techniques. No matter how much I might understand and appreciate the work of other composers in the genres, these are not forms of music I resonate with. They are simply not forms of music I listen to and I struggle with the idea of writing them. However, in a Master Class by Libby Larsen she made the comment, “Learn them all, because all forms of music have something to offer.” This I very much agree. There are elements of each of the above mentioned forms (and others) that I do resonate with. Berg’s Violin Concerto is a beautiful twelve-tone work, although it is possible to look at numerous sections of the music with a “tonal” analysis. Another composer friend, Gary Bachlund commented that using these techniques can narrow the choices for how to compose a piece of work. If you look at ...
Read more