Okay, I know I’m a Joooo and all, but gosh darnit, I just LOVE Christmas music. So, for all you folks out there who are celebrating Christmas today, and for those like me who aren’t, but who enjoy great music anyway, this is for you! Merry Christmas!

Ella:

Barbra:

Renee:

Leontyne:

Dame Joan:

Who are your favorites?

This is an open thread. I’ll be out most of the day in the wilds of New Joisey, so feel free to speak your mind!

Mo 12/21: Renee Fleming, Jim McDonald
Tu 12/22: Kathy Griffin, Harry Connick Jr.
We 12/23: Paris Hilton, Chef Jose Andres
Th 12/24: Pre-empted
Fr 12/25: Emily Blunt, David Bianculli (R 12/4/09)

Renee Fleming will perform a recital Thursday evening at the Lyric Opera House in Baltimore.

Category 46
Best Improvised Jazz Solo
(For an instrumental jazz solo performance. Two equal performers on one recording may be eligible as one entry. If the soloist listed appears on a recording billed to another artist, the latter’s name is in parenthesis for identification. Singles or Tracks only.)
•All Of You
Gerald Clayton, soloist
Track from: Two-Shade
[ArtistShare]

Category 47
Best Jazz Instrumental Album, Individual or Group
(For albums containing 51% or more playing time of INSTRUMENTAL tracks.)
•Brother To Brother
Clayton Brothers
[ArtistShare]

John Clayton also arranged a song and performed with Yo-Yo Ma and Diana Krall in the following Grammy © Nominated Album:

Category 107
Best Classical Crossover Album

‘Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs Of Joy And Peace,’ Yo-Yo Ma (Odair Assad, Sergio Assad, Chris Botti, Dave Brubeck, Matt Brubeck, John Clayton, Paquito d’Rivera, Renée Fleming, Diana Krall, Alison Krauss, Natalie McMaster, Edgar Meyer, Cristina Pato, Joshua Redman, Jake Shimabukuro, Silk Road Ensemble, James Taylor, Chris Thile, Wu Tong, Alon Yavnai & Amelia Zirin-Brown)

FLICKERS: Get set for “the greatest opera film ever, filmed in 3D and HD video, featuring 1000 extras, 150 musicians and chorus members from the Paris

SHEEN: walking The Walk

Opera, 50 dancers and 20 of the world’s greatest singers.” No kidding. It’s the all-new Tales Of Hoffman, an extravagant film debut for director Robert Carsen. Is Michael Levine designing the sets? Of course. The 150-minute spectacle will be shot in Paris, Milan, Prague and Venice, locations include the Paris Opera and La Scala, and Renee Fleming and Rolando Villazon are set to topline a cast which includes Scott Hendricks, Anne Sophie Von Otter and Bryn Terfel. Stay tuned … Martin Sheen is in Spain, shooting The Way with Deborah Kara Unger for his actor-writer-director son Emilio Estevez. It’s a story about El Camino de

McCORMACK: texting?

Santiago, the famous pilgrimage route that has existed for more than 1000 years. Shirley MacLaine walked the 500 miles from the French village of Saint Jean de Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela in 1994 — she was 60 at the time — and got a bestseller out of it. Can’t wait to see what Emilio does with it … and Jason Lewis, Eric McCormack and Carly Pope are shooting Liam Card’s Textuality, a comedy about a guy and a girl on the brink of romance who must first end the multiple relationships they were managing through their Blackberries before they met. Also on hand to bring actor-writer Card’s first feature film screenplay to life are director Warren P. Sonoda, producer Marc Rigaux and executive producer Michael Baker. Sounds like fun.

NOW THAT’S GOING GREEN: Looking for enviro-friendly Xmas gifts? Street pole banners featuring those striking images from the National Ballet are being combined with recycled seatbelts and inner tubes (!!) to create National Ballet tote bags and messenger bags. They’re all made with 100% recycled material and you can buy ‘em at the Ballet Boutique at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts.

BOYD: Peter, Paul & Liona?

QUOTABLE QUOTES: “I’m looking to form a Peter, Paul & Mary style trio (so sad that poor Mary recently died) and wondered if any of you happen to know someone who might fit the bill. He has to be able to play folky acoustic guitar (or even classical, but not essential), and have a good singing voice (preferably a tenor,) plus live in North America. If he happens to be single, nice looking, slim, somewhat enlightened and intelligent and between the age of 50 and 65 so much the better “

The seeker? Guitar virtuoso Liona Boyd, e-talking a musical APB to her friends and fans in her recent newsletter.

UP UP & AWAY: Air Canada is testing whether travelers want to pay to surf the Web, send email or work via the Internet while flying. Internet service on select Toronto-Los Angeles and Montreal-Los Angeles routes will run until January 29. Passengers will pay $9.95 per flight to use a laptop computer and $7.95 to use a personal electronic device, such as a smartphone. Air Canada also began charging extra fees last week to book Preferred seats with additional leg room, starting at $14. Preferred seats refer to the bulkhead and exit row seats in Economy Class that offer added legroom. “These coveted seats are now available to all Air Canada and Jazz® customers for a fee that varies by fare option and destination.”

Hmmmmm. And the fee for using the washroom is …??

TOMORROW:

The Bible tells me so.

I first heard Grammy Award-winning Soprano Renee Fleming singing Strauss’ Four Last Songs at Carnegie Hall as part of a fundraising concert for Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS. I’ve never forgotten the beauty of her voice since. She is simply one of the greatest singers on the face of this earth.

Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year in 1997, Renee Fleming also received the inaugural 1996 Solti Prize from L’Academie du Disque Lyrique. Her recording of American arias, I Want Magic, recorded in New York with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra was named “Record of the Month”, by Gramophone Magazine, naming her in the review as one of the all-time greats.

Repértoire Magazine reviewed the recording as “The most beautiful manifesto imaginable for the last fifty years of American operatic creation.” The New York Times wrote: “Ravishing melodies, ravishingly sung…Ms. Fleming convincingly gives lie to those who maintain that the golden age of singing is past.”

The end of another week.  As the dust settles, it’s in order to set down a  note of the enjoyment provided by Bryn’s concert at the RFH on Wednesday.

Having carped about ’sing the CD’ concerts in connection with Renee Fleming’s rather mediocre effort the week before, I have to say that this show, based on Bryn’s recent (and, in my humble opinion., rather good) CD release ‘Bad Boys’, worked rather well.  The reason lies principally in Bryn’s force of personality, which made you forgive the orchestra being not top-notch, the chorus being a little less than that, and the whole thing having a distinct whiff of marketing, not least in the £5 Gubbay programmes (no libretto/translation, please note).

Different costumes accompanied each number, even if it was only a differently-coloured scarf draped around his suit jacket, which conjured up a rather raffish Poirot dinner party image.  A rifle accompanied Kaspar for the number from Der Freischutz and Dr Dulcamara carried his potions in a capaciously-pocketed cloak.  This included a bottle of the beer which was, I assume, of the brand with which Bryn’s programme bio gleefully reported him as having a “proud association”.  With so many proud associations, my side-on slips seat (which was worse than the website implied, SBC please note) suddenly seemed steep at £35.  Surely Rolex et al were subsidising it?  Oh, silly me, there’s the Grubbay factor.  Why do I feel so out of step with the world of today?  Sigh.

The numbers were, however, reasonably generous.  Freischutz, Faust, Mefistofele, Tosca (the highlight), Sweeney Todd (not the best choice from that piece), Threepenny Opera, Otello and an encore from Les Mis. But the stop-start feeling was generated by the regular detours to display the Sinfonia Cymru’s skills:  Danse Macabre, Faust ballet music, Night on Bare Mountain, that sort of thing.  The Faust Soldiers’ Chorus (sung in English) was a good display of full-on singing by the London Welsh Chorale, but I fear that their other interventions sounded less exciting: it all seemed a bit woolly and whispy in alternating measure.  Sinfonia Cymru were good, I thought, and gave us both full-throttle and sensitive moments with finesse and, to be honest, rather fewer horn-fluffs than there had been in the LPO’s Wagner/Scriabin concert of the other week.

The Sweeney Todd number was “Ballad of Sweeney Todd” instead of the CD’s offering of the Epiphany, presumably because the chorus were present rather than a Mrs Lovett (I’m not sure that Anne Sofie von Otter will make a landmark Mrs Lovett based on the disc’s evidence…)  However, in the audience there was one Maria Friedman so I did briefly entertain hopes of a call for ‘is there a Mrs Lovett in the audience?’, but alas…  She sat a couple of seats from Sir Ian McKellen, who provided one of the unintentional highlights of the evening when he cringed endearingly at the broadcast of his exhortation to switch off our mobiles, not cough, etc.  Awww…

We sang Bryn happy birthday as well (“better than Cardiff,” he admitted sotto voce), albeit at his own instigation which is rather cheeky.  And it was in these little moments that any misgivings evaporated about the marketing hype, Grubbay-managed, over-priced roadshow quality of the evening.  Despite some stilted verbiage in between numbers, those numbers were delivered with absolute commitment and in fine voice, with all of the dramatic engagement and nuanced singing that we expect from Bryn Terfel.  All in all, it was good fun, even if (despite all I’ve just said) the only really, absolutely top-flight number that really got the goosebumps going was the Tosca number that closed the first half.  I still don’t like the ’sing the CD’ roadshow concept, but I do think Bryn brought it off:  with the starchy formal classical concert atmosphere set aside, enough fun prevailed to banish the misgivings. 

Then there was a signing in the Foyer, so I have pictures and we have a pleasant scrawl across the programme from our reigning operatic villain.  Lovely.  We trotted off home humming Stars from Les Miserables (not the best thing of the night, but the last thing of the night – and it stuck in my head!) and smiling.  For a Wednesday, what more can you ask?  Ta Bryn!

[A further quick note:  the 'other half' took himself off to Angela Gheorghiu at the RFH the other day.  Summary: far from full, which raises the question of whether the postponement had pee'd people off a bit too much, but she sang reasonably generously, gave four encores, spent some time singing to the people in the choir (which feels like quite a nice gesture) and at one point she forgot the words and stopped the number to consult the conductor's score... Oo-er.]

Tuesday and Wednesday evenings of this week were both spent at the Royal Festival Hall.  The two evenings couldn’t have been more different.

First off was Renee Fleming and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, with Charles Dutoit whipping up the storms.  To say it was Renee Fleming and the RPO is a bit of an exaggeration; as has been remarked elsewhere (see comment thread in particular), it was the RPO with a brief appearance by Fleming to lighten the mood.  It was an oddly unbalanced concert to say the least.

For starters, it was a ’sing the CD’ affair.  Something to plug?  Book the Festival Hall.  With Fleming, Terfel, Gheorghiu, Netrebko and Hvorostovsky all passing through in the space of a few weeks, it rather feels that the resident orchestras are only required to really put their minds to what to do to fill in the gaps left by the record company managements.  I may well be being unfair, and this may indeed be an exaggeration, but this concert left an unpleasant taste and I therefore feel that a bit of grumpiness is not out of place.

Two Romeo & Juliets – Prokofiev in the first half, Tchaikovsky in the second – were complemented by a few arias from Fleming’s Verismo disc (two by Leoncavallo, one each for Giordani and Puccini) and Eugene Onegin’s letter scene.  It didn’t add up to a whole lot.  Oh, and we had “one encore” (specifically announced in what felt like a ‘this is all you’re getting so make the most of it’ way): O mio babbino caro.  We sat in the choir so admired the back of her gown and the back of her head.  Sound wasn’t great, obviously, but what came across most vividly was the Manon Lescaut item (sola, perduta, abandonnata).  The others seemed to trot by rather blandly.  Sat within spitting distance of the brass and timpani (we restrained ourselves, obviously), the Prokofiev was an intermittently rumbustious affair.

Then Wednesday: the LPO tackled Wagner and Bruckner, with Petra Lang present to deliver a rich, fine Wesendonck Lieder, all led by Christoph Eschenbach.  This was a much more satisfactory affair all round.  Eschenbach was marvellous to watch, as he communicated the more expansive and climactic moments vividly.  If bits of Wagner have to be wrenched free of their settings, then I’ll take the Tannhauser overture quite happily, especially when played (as here) in a way that really ratchets the tension in the build-up to that glorious full-on rendition of the Pilgrims’ Chorus over squiggly violin motifs (that’s a technical term, by the way).  The Wesendonck Lieder were, as I say, rather wonderful.  Having last seen/heard Petra Lang munching her way through already well-chewed scenery in the ROH’s Lohengrin, with full-on vocal dramatics, I wasn’t expecting so refined and controlled a performance.  It was magnetic, with gorgeous tone throughout, and a rapt concentration that was held to the very end when Eschenbach took a good 10-15 seconds to drop his baton slowly in a silent Hall.  Magic.  And how very different from the atmosphere in the same hall the previous night.

I don’t understand Bruckner, and I think it will be a while before I do.  I like it, don’t get me wrong, but bar a rather ropey performance of the 4th by the Oxford University Orchestra in my student days, I haven’t attended a live performance of a Bruckner symphony.  One really needs to do the homework before going.  I see a lot written about the ‘architecture’ of these symphonies, of the overall structure which must be related to the individual building blocks, such as is only possible by the great Brucknerian conductors.  Well, if Bruckner’s 6th is architecture, I fear that I spent a lot of time admiring a couple of pediments, some window surrounds and a rather grand doorcase, but failed to get a full view of the edifice.  Don’t get me wrong, though, I like the sound-world:  I marvel at the glory of those climaxes that blaze forth as only Bruckner seems able to command;  the elegance of the rhythms in the gentler passages is a joy; but overall, the stop-start-soft-loud-soft approach leaves me pleasantly, at times giddily, bewildered, in this case, most particularly in the last movement.  Maybe as I get older I’ll understand…

I will also just remark on an individual in the choir – front row centre – who had the effrontery, pretty much from first bar of Wagner to last glorious climax of Bruckner, to repeatedly nod off and awaken, over and over again, in regular and distracting fashion, falling so far forward as to practically have his head on the rail in front of him, before bobbing back up again and then resuming his droop forward.  After the third movement of Bruckner the people behind him had a word, the effect of which lasted all of about 10mins.  Frankly, I was hoping that someone near by would pull out a sheet of cast iron, slip it between the pages of their programme and, under cover of a Bruckner brass chorale, give him a good stout crack across the back of the head.  He certainly deserved it.  A friend, who spent the first half in the choir behind the miscreant before moving elsewhere for the sake of his sanity, speculated that Eschenbach noticed the miscreant’s narcoleptic bobbing-about.  Unforgiveable, and all credit to Eschenbach for not stopping and demanding his removal.  I could discourse at great length on the irritations of audiences – and at some point will – but this seemed to me wilfully rude. 

So, two evenings, each very different:  the later of the two the more enjoyable and, I have to say, appearing to possess considerably greater artistic integrity.

I’ve been a fan of the musical chameleon otherwise known as Elvis Costello for a long time. Not that everything he’s ever released has appealed to me but for the most part I’ve been happy to be along for the musical ride for the last 30-plus years.

In his first season as TV host with the series “Spectacle: Elvis Costello With”, EC treated fans to a lively mix of interviews, conversation and musical performances with a wide-range of guests including (Spectacle co-producer) Elton John, The Police, Reneé Fleming, Lou Reed, Roseanne Cash and the other half of one hell of a talented musical couple, Diana Krall.

Anyone who’s watched the first season knows that this is a program for not just your average music fan, but for music enthusiasts. It’s obvious that EC is just as much a music die-hard as the rest of us, and he’s having a great time. Whether its watching him interview one of his guests or sharing the mike with them, performing not only the songs made famous by his guests, but tackling interesting and sometimes obscure songs by other artists for whom both guest and host share affection, the series is a treat. It’s made abundantly clear throughout Season 1 that EC is having the time of his life doing these shows.

Some big ticket names will be featured in Season 2, including Bruce Springsteen and U2 (airdates for Season 2 in both the U.S. and on Bravo! here at home are TBA). The U2 episode was filmed at the Concert Hall at the Masonic Temple in Toronto back in September. On November 2nd, Mrs. Sidetwo and I were among the lucky few to be in the audience as EC returned to Toronto to film what is apparently not only the Season 2 finale, but the series finale as well which is a shame. But the series will live on forever on DVD, so if you haven’t seen it, it’s worth picking up.

So who was the guest for the final show? Why, none other than the affable host, as it were. The original plan was to have Elton John, who was ECs guest on the first show, turn the tables on the host and play interviewer instead. Unfortunately, due to Elton’s current bout with the flu, he was unavailable. As a last-minute substituion they brought in actress and part-time music critic (and mega die-hard EC fan) Mary-Louise Parker (“Weeds”). She did a great job.

Interviewer and interviewee seemed to both enjoy thenselves. They talked at length about Elvis’ career, influences, songwriting process… a lot of ground was covered. And then there were the performances, what the crowd really came to see, and EC did not let them down. Backed by the incredible Imposters (Steve Nieve on keyboards, Pete Thomas on drums and Davey Faragher on bass) the evening kicked off with the one-two punch of Accidents Will Happen and (I Don’t Want to Go To) Chelsea, both of which were played twice (more on that in a sec).

Other highlights included a spirited (The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes, Bedlam and My Three Sons. But the absolute highlight of the evening was at the end. When it appeared the taping was complete, it was announced to the crowd that EC and band were going to perform two more songs for the crowd. Turns out they were Take 2 of Accidents and Chelsea, which of course everyone loved to hear again. But then he treated the crowd to one more song. Then another. And another. And it kept on going. EC was having a blast as was the small crowd, and he didn’t want it to end. So the crowd got treated to absolutely fantastic takes on I Hope You’re Happy Now, High Fidelity, Man Out of Time, In Another Room, I Want You…and about four more cuts. Remains to be seen what if any of these last few songs will make the final version to air.

The whole evening ran close to 3.5 hours. For those in attendance, it was an evening they’ll not likely soon forget, myself included.

Here’s a clip of early Elvis, just a kid at 23. Amazing how the music has held up:

Monday 2nd November 7:30pm

at Symphony Hall

Renée Fleming soprano
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Charles Dutoit conductor

Prokofiev Suite, Romeo and Juliet
Tchaikovsky Tatyana’s Letter Scene from Eugene Onegin
Tchaikovsky Fantasy Overture, Romeo and Juliet
Leoncavallo Svaria sulla bocca viva from La Boheme
Leoncavallo Pinson la biondetta from La Boheme
Giordano Nella suo amore from Siberia
Puccini Sola perduta, abandonata from Manon Lescaut

There are few more famous divas than soprano Renée Fleming, whose fame has soared into realms normally reserved for pop music superstars. The effortless ease of her distinctive tone brings a breathtaking sheen to every note she sings. She returns to Symphony Hall after a break of six years in a programme on the theme of love. www.thsh.co.uk

Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall, says of tonight’s recommended concert: “Renée Fleming is undoubtedly a soprano in a league of her own. The double Grammy winner is an outstanding solo performer. Don’t miss this chance to catch this world-class singer live.”

Review by David Hart, Birmingham Post:

http://www.birminghampost.net/life-leisure-birmingham-guide/birmingham-culture/music-in-birmingham/2009/11/04/review-ren-e-fleming-royal-philharmonic-orchestra-at-symphony-hall-65233-25091167/

“Real passion and commitment came later. The section leading up to the Death of Tybalt displayed palpably thrilling sonorities, while in Tchaikovsky’s Romeo and Juliet fantasy-overture (just imagine what a Tchaikovsky ballet, or even opera on this subject might have been like) Dutoit avoided any suggestion of warhorse posturing, building climaxes in a purposefully expressive way and keeping the love theme under control right up to its final, poignant appearance in the coda.”

Review by Geoff Read, Seen and Heard UK

http://www.musicweb-international.com/sandh/2009/Jul-Dec09/Fleming_0211.htm

…”The final scheduled aria was Sola, perduta, abbandonata, from Puccini’s Manon Lescaut: Fleming had saved the best for last, demonstrating why she has reached her star status. At last, we had an aria that displayed drama and passion with orchestra and soloist on the same wavelength.”…

Ce cd est un objet précieux, un objet de curiosité, un assemblage improbable ou singulier tant par les pièces choisies que par leurs interprètes. Avec Edin Karamazov, luthiste de grand talent, on prend les chemins de traverse, on s’égare avec délice dans le labyrinthe où résonnent les cordes des instruments du musicien sorcier.

Mené par le musicien, traverser d’abord un paysage musical (Leo Brouwer) où les notes distillées par les cordes tombent claires, pures, aériennes, se multiplient comme flocons de neige, forment des spirales, se touchent, s’enchevêtrent, se détachent à nouveau entraînées par leur mouvement… Suivre lentement le dédale, les méandres de ses tracés, l’âme prise par la mélancolie du chant de Sting. .. A la croisée d’une allée aux énigmatiques détours, un orgue s’est métamorphosé en luth et joue la Toccata et Fugue de Bach… Plus loin, recueillir les larmes de cristal d’une diva (Renée Fleming)… Errer encore aux côtés du luthiste, sous le charme d’une sonate de Giovani Zamboni et puis croiser l’âme blessée de David (Saul, Haendel,  Acte I, scène 5) portée par la voix d’Andréas Scholl… Continuer le parcours qui recèle d’autres trésors…

Le fil d’Ariane c’est le lien qui unit  Edin Karamazov et les autres interprètes depuis le début de sa carrière. Ainsi leur a-t-il offert cet album de complicité.

Autres cd’s où intervient le musicien :  Andreas Scholl, “A Musicall Banquet” ; “The John Dowland Collection” ; ”The Best of Andreas Scholl“;  Sting “”Songs of the Labyrinth“;  Edin Karamazov, “Britten – Bach, Come, heavy

Françoise Vandenwouwer

It was a Pretty Woman experience for me Saturday night at the opening of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Although, I was sans one Richard Gere. Sigh). One of the many perks of my new job is being able to attend events that I wouldn’t otherwise go to—red carpet, black tie, beautiful gowns, gorgeous people. Alas, I knew I’d have to wear something amazing. Rather than buy an entire outfit, I decided to jazz up a vintage dress I bought for New Year’s Eve two years ago, but never had the chance to wear. Normally, I would have searched for the funkiest of shoes to counter my solid black dress, but in this situation, I decided a classic shoe was best. The event was traditional, yes, but I needed a shoe that could be worn beyond the weekend. One that would outlive the fall, winter, and possibly spring, trends because of my job. I was looking for longevity. I ended up snagging the Effie by Nina, a 4-inch, black satin shoe with a slight peep toe. Despite my nerves, I felt comfortable in my new purchase. And when opera singer Renee Fleming busted out her rendition of West Side Story’s “I Feel Pretty,” I can honestly say, I did. Practicality isn’t utilized in the fashion industry often, but in some circumstances it can be quite nice.

Effie by Nina

Here are this week’s new music releases:

Air Supply – The Singer and the Song
All-4-One – No Regrets
The Band of Heathens – One Foor in the Ether
The Best is Yet to Come: The Songs of Cy Coleman
Big Scoop – Tech N9ne Presents Big Scoop Monsterifik
The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate
Bring it On: Fight to the Finish soundtrack album
Butterfly Boucher – Scary Fragile
Cain’s Offering – Gather the Faithful
Dada Life – Just Do the Dada
Dappled Cities – Zounds
Marié Digby – Breathing Underwater
Dodos – Time to Die
The Elms – The Great American Midrange
Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
Renée Fleming – Verismo
Ace Frehley – Anomaly
Gary Go – Gary Go
The Grates – Teeth Lost, Hearts Won
Honor Society – Fashionably Late
Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers – Levitate
Infected Mushroom – Legend of the Black Shawarma
Mason Jennings – Blood of Man
Jupiter One – Sunshower
Kid Cudi – Man on the Moon: The End of Day
Kittie – In the Black
Mark Knopfler – Get Lucky
Living Colour – The Chair in the Doorway
The Lovemakers – Let’s Be Friends
Manic Street Preachers – Journal for Plague Lovers
John Mayall – Tough
Megadeth – Endgame
Moneen – The World I Want to Leave Behind
Muse – The Resistance
Orange – Phoenix
Outloud! – Outloud!
Passafire – Everyone on Everynight
Porcupine Tree – The Incident
Q-Tip – Kamaal the Abstract
The Rifles – Great Escape
Royal Bangs – Let It Beep
Rubik – Dada Bandits
Tom Russell – Blood and Candle Smoke
Shadows Fall – Retribution
The 69 Eyes – Back In Blood
Shudder to Think – Live From Home
Simian Mobile Disco – Temporary Pleasure
Chad Smith’s Bombastic Meatbats – Meet the Meatbats
Sonos – SonoSings
Stars of Track and Field – A Time for Lions
Super 400 – Sweet Fist
David Sylvian – Manafon
Thrice – Beggars
Trick Daddy – Finally Famous: Born a Thug, Still a Thug
Uncle Kracker – Happy Hour
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson – Break Up

Alan Gilbert / Foto: Michael J. Lutch / Fuente: www.alangilbert.com

El próximo miércoles Alan Gilbert se estrenará como el nuevo director musical de la Orquesta Filarmónica de Nueva York con un concierto que se transmitirá por televisión por cable, en vivo desde el Lincoln Center. Durante la presentación que marcará su debut con la más antigua de las orquestas estadounidenses, Gilbert estrenará EXPO una obra comisionada a Magnus Lindberg, compositor en residencia de la institución musical. Ésta será la primera ocasión que una obra nueva se incluye en el programa inicial de una temporada de la Filarmónica de Nueva York, desde que en 1962 Bernstein estrenó Connotations de Aaron Copland para inaugurar el Avery Fisher Hall. La orquesta también interpretará la Sinfonía fantástica de Berlioz y los Poèmes pour MI de Messiaen con la participación de la soprano Renée Fleming

Durante su primera temporada, Gilbert buscará equilibrar los programas brindando presencia a música del siglo XX con repertorio clásico y romántico . De igual forma, tiene planeada la realización de dos giras por Asia y Europa.

Tanto el padre como la madre de Gilbert (ambos violinistas) formaron parte de la Filarmónica de Nueva York. Por lo que de alguna manera el director ha estado vinculado con la institución desde su propia infancia. Egresado de la Universidad de Harvard, la Escuela Juilliard y el Instituto Curtis, el joven músico estuvo al frente de la Filarmónica Real de Estocolmo durante 8 años. Gilbert es el primer músico nacido en Nueva York en dirigir a la orquesta más importante de la ciudad. Sin embargo, algunos escépticos, han criticado que un conductor de tan sólo 42 años de edad se haga cargo del ensamble.

La agrupación ha sido dirigida por batutas como Gustav Mahler, Arturo Toscanini, John Barbirolli, Dimitri Mitropoulos y Leonard Bernstein. En las últimas tres décadas, personalidades como Pierre Boulez, Zubin Mehta, Kurt Mazur y Lorin Maazel se han encargado de conducir los destinos del ensamble con más tradición en los Estados Unidos.

Gilbert continuará con su compromiso como director huésped de la  Orquesta de la Radiodifusión del Norte de Alemania.

The annual International Music Festival in Český Krumlov in the southern Czech Republic, close to the Austrian border kicks off once again and from July 17 to August 22 visitors can enjoy 24 exceptional evenings –half of them in the open air- with top Czech and international musicians. Seven different venues host this 18th edition of the festival with predominant the sound of opera and symphony, chamber music, vocals and recitals, with room for jazz, musicals and music and food from European culture, this time concentrating on Greece. play twenty-four concerts throughout festival.
more…

Two marvellous musical treats today: one live, one recorded. 

At Covent Garden, Renée Fleming was displaying her Violetta in the fast-becoming-a-warhorse Richard Eyre production of La Traviata.  With Thomas Hampson and Joseph Calleja alongside, and Pappano in the pit, it was probably the best revival of that production I’ve seen, having seen pretty much all of them.  Indeed, interestingly, it’s not far off 15 years since that Gheorghiu debut, and a matter of weeks from my 15th year anniversary of attending Covent Garden, so to see the production being so well inhabited and delivering its not inconsiderable goods so efficiently was a real treat.

Fleming was wonderful.  I’ve always had a bit of scepticism about her doing anything other than grand aristocratic ladies (Marschallins, Countesses, that sort of thing).  There’s something in both voice and demeanour which seems regal and somehow detached.  She misses that febrile intensity that you get with a Mattila or even the early Gheorghiu.  The voice is glorious, though, and there is something almost thrilling simply in the technical security of it.  However, in this Traviata, I think she won me over to something else.

I began my day with no food or even decaf since I was due into my doctor’s office for a fasting blood test. I told him next lifetime I will not have dinky veins. Finding a vein and the first stab is the worst part. His scale, of course, showed me a few pounds heavier than mine at home. Other than these, the visit went well.

I am checking in on a friend’s dog and cat while she and her partner are gone for the weekend. Besides the fact that I had the time and adore animals, I had a nice perk — a pool! So I took an issue of the Advocate, and caught up on some gay news. Lots of hot boy ads but I did learn a thing or two. I hopped in the pool a few times. In, adjusted to the water, splashed around, then out to read and dry until I got hot, then the cycle began anew. How relaxing to have a deck and pool to myself! I’ll do this anytime.

Since I had my aunt’s memorial Thursday, I had to switch my opera ticket to the grand — and more expensive — Saturday night spectacle. Call me grumpy but I hate waiting what seems like forever to get out of the parking lot afterward. I’m going to go early and hunt for some free parking on the street. I love Verdi — he is so dramatic and passionate even if the plots don’t always make much sense. I have long gotten over this part of opera. It’s about the music and the grandiosity and fickleness of human nature. Sort of like watching karma on stage. I am going by myself and that’s okay. When I had to switch nights, I also had to trade up to a better seat. Still, I’m in the gallery so I’ll bring those opera glasses I bought at the Chicago Lyric Opera years ago when I realized how much trouble I’d gone to drive there, get expensive tickets yet still not be able to see Renee Fleming very well. Tonight these glasses will pay off here at Music Hall.

opera

what is it about the drama and pathos?
am I witnessing a microcosm of life
and getting catharsis in the dark?

How did La Cieca miss this opportunity?