Posts from — June 2007

The pianist Jeremy Denk (of Think Denk fame) has gotten a very nice mention of his performance of Charles Ives‘ “Concord” Sonata. Now Jeremy can use “brilliant” - the New York Times, in his promo materials! You can read the entire article (ostensibly a review of a concert from the Emerson Quartet’s Beethoven “Quartets in Context” series going on a Carnegie Hall this month) here. Here’s the bit on Mr. Denk: [Read more →]

A great commercial for a beverage that I think is a great promotion for the symphony orchestra. It features the rapper 50 Cent and the “National Symphony”. I got a kick out of this one - especially the fact that a “rapper violist” is brought in to replace the orchestra’s principal violist. Violas represent! [Read more →]

I’ve been reading the St. Louis Symphony’s blog and have found it an interesting and entertaining read. Perhaps this is something that the OSO might want to try, with different staff members writing about different aspects of the sprawling operation that is a major symphony orchestra. In the latest entry there is mention of OSO music director Carlos Kalmar, and his visit to the SLSO next season.

Last would be Prokofiev 5 with (Carlos) Kalmar (Many Worlds, Apr 17-18). He is a great up-and-coming maestro and the Prokofiev was the piece that won the SLSO a Grammy. To put it simply, the SLSO owns Prokofiev 5.

- SLSO principal bassist Erik Harris

Of course, the Musicians of the Oregon Symphony have a repertoire blog up on their web site, called The Works - always a good stop before diving in to the upcoming season or set of concerts.

I just finished reading David Stabler’s post about his experience on the judging panel for the Cliburn Fifth International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs in Forth Worth, Texas. [Read more →]

The view from our room before we headed out to hear the Philadelphia Orchestra at Benaroya Hall in Seattle. What a spectacular night (both in sight and sound).

Pink Martini just got back from a European tour a few days ago, and already some new stuff has popped up on YouTube. Here is a clip of their single “Hey Eugene” from the British show Later with Jools Holland. [Read more →]

Henry Fogel writes about the alarming trend of major US newspapers jettisoning their classical music critics.  They say that they aren’t diminishing their arts coverage, but shouldn’t an expert provide the coverage?  Here’s a link to the blog entry.

The NY Times continues its unrelenting assault on the music directorship of Lorin Maazel, this time his conducting of the New York Philharmonic’s “Brahms the Romantic” festival. Here’s my favorite snarky comment from Allan Kozinn’s review: [Read more →]