The Classical Music Network (English) Wed, 29 Jan 2025 00:07:42 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/ http://www.concertonet.com/images/concertonet.jpg http://www.concertonet.com/
B. Liu (© Courtesy of the Artist)


“In a light mist, transparent vapor
Lost afar and yet distinct
A star gleams softly.


“How beautiful! The bluish mystery
Of her glow
Beckons me, cradles me.


“O bring me to thee, far distant star!
Bathe me in trembling rays
Sweet light!”
Alexander Scriabin, poem written as preface to his Fourth Piano Sonata


Talk about citizen of the world! Bruce Liu, was born in Paris of Chinese parents, growing up in Montréal, winner of the 2021 Polish Chopin Competition!]]>... Fri, 24 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16714
K. Mkhitaryan (© Javier del Real/Teatro Real)


Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin is one of my favourite operas; I never tire of hearing it or seeing it performed. Years ago, such was my enthusiasm that I attempted to learn Russian so as to understand every word of Tatiana’s letter scene. Alas, I soon forgot much of what I had learned.


Onegin is the composer’s most popular opera and arguably the most popular Russian opera. This is understandable, as it’s richly melodious, with sweeping, emotive arias and scenes of wonderfully orchestrated dances (the Act II Waltz and the Act III Polonaise). It a]]>... Wed, 22 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16718
R. Muti, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(© Todd Rosenberg/Chicago Symphony Orchestra)


“The success of our operas rests in the hands of the conductor. This person is as necessary as a tenor or prima donna.”
Giuseppe Verdi


“I cannot hear your ‘4th Symphony’ without a fever permeating the fibers of my entire being, and for a whole day, I cannot recover from the impression.”
Nadezhda von Meck


We all know our conductors. Prosaic or electric, studied or electrifying. Idiosyncratic or slaves to the score. Best of all, last night we again knew th]]>... Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16709
(© Luciano Romano)


It’s always a delight to attend a performance of Don Carlo, indisputably one of Verdi’s finest operas. It’s also Verdi’s most Meyerbeerian opera, premiered as it was in its original French language version, in five acts, at the Paris Opera in 1867, in the spectacular “grand opera” style of Giacomo Meyerbeer (1791‑1864).


These had historic themes, such as the plight of the Protestants in France, in Les Huguenots, or the blasphemous John of Leiden in the Netherlands during the early days of the Reformation, in Le Prophète. They also involved dazzling]]>... Sun, 19 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16712
(© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


Of Verdi’s twenty-eight operas, just two are comedies. The first, Un giorno di regno (1840), was such a huge flop that it made him reconsider his music career. It was written shortly after the death of his two children and completed after the death of his beloved wife; hardly an elixir for comedy. His only other comedy, Falstaff (1893), was also his final work, premiering when the composer was eighty. It was set to a libretto by Arrigo Boito (1842‑1918), a composer in his own right and the librettist of his hugely successful opera six years earlier, Otello ]]>... Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16706
N. Stutzmann (© Rand Lines/Atlanta Symphony Orchestra)


“The whole ‘Ring’ will become–I am not ashamed to say–the greatest work of poetry ever written.”
Richard Wagner


“The characters of ‘The Ring’ are nothing but thieves, liars and blackguards.”
Sir Arthur Sullivan


One likes to imagine Lorin Maazel, that superb Wagnerian, after hearing the Ring as background for everything from Bugs Bunny to Apocalypse Now, decided to feed us the whole 15‑hour operatic tetralogy in a single 78‑minute gulp.


]]>... Thu, 16 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16701
J. Heggie & J. Hopkins with picture of Hopkins’ sister and her children (© Zoe Tarshis)


“I have known two women who were murdered, both by jealous former romantic partners, so the killing of Joshua’s sister resonated with me. But I could not promise anything: with songs and poems, they either arrive or they don’t. I then wrote the sequence in one session. I made the ‘sisters’ plural because they are indeed–unhappily–very plural. Sisters, daughters, mothers. So many.”
Jake Heggie


“It is a funny thing, but when I am making music, all the answers I seek for in life seem to be ther]]>... Wed, 15 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16695
S. Hernandez, G. Kunde (© Fabrizio Sansoni/Opera di Roma)


Puccini was a man of the theatre with an uncanny ability to recognize a plot that would work as an opera. After seeing Victorien Sardou’s play, La Tosca (1887), Puccini decided it would make a great opera, despite his publisher’s reluctance. Dismissed as “a shabby little shocker” by musicologist Joseph Kerman (1924‑2014), Tosca is, together with Il tabarro (1918), Puccini’s most typically verismo work. Both were set after two grand‑guignol plays by French authors. Unlike his Italian contemporaries writing in the veris]]>... Tue, 14 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16717
L. Viotti (© Desiré van den Berg)


Highly admired by Alban Berg, who in a letter to Anton Webern wrote of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony: “Es gibt doch nur eine VI. trotz der Pastorale” (“There is only one Sixth, notwithstanding [Beethoven’s] Pastoral”). It is thought by many to be Mahler’s most structurally perfect symphony. In contrast to Mahler’s other major symphonic works, which end in either triumph or transcendence, Mahler’s Sixth ends tragically. Nicknamed “The Tragic,” it was not thus titled by Mahler. However, its association with tragedy became entrenched due his wife Alma’s stat]]>... Mon, 13 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16694
I. Levit (© Felix Broede)

“Behold, he goes up like clouds,
And his chariots like the whirlwind;
His horses are swifter than eagles.”
Jeremiah 4:13


“This event in my life has remained my greatest pride, the palladium of my whole career as an artist. I tell it but very seldom and only to good friends!”
Franz Liszt, describing Beethoven’s compliment on his piano-playing


During Johann Sebastian Bach’s fugue after the Chromatic Fantasy, I forgot the composer, forgot pianist Igor Levit and forgot the piano itself. The arch of the work, the s]]>... Sun, 12 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16688
I. Leonard (© Samuel A. Dog)


“Do not hold grain waiting for higher prices when people are hungry.”
Zoroaster


“Poor shadows of Elysium, hence, and rest
Upon your never-withering banks of flowers:
Be not with mortal accidents opprest;
No care of yours it is; you know ‘tis ours.”
William Shakespeare, Cymbeline


That fine young German conductor Kevin John Edusei, in his Philharmonic debut, took the orchestra through all three Greek worlds last night, Starting with a noisy over‑world in Elysium, co]]>... Thu, 02 Jan 2025 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16682
(© Ossama el Naggar)


I’ll always remember the first time I attended this popular event two decades ago. For years, New Year’s Eve at the Cairo Opera House has been an incontournable, a “must‑see” event, one that’s on everyone’s social calendar in this bustling city of 22 million inhabitants. As is now tradition, the evening is dominated by the music of Johann Strauss, whose waltzes and polkas are synonymous with this perennially celebrated winter evening.


As was the case last year, after the events in Israel and Gaza, the usually carefree atmosphere at this concert was decidedly subdued. ]]>... Tue, 31 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16683
(© Ossama el Naggar)


German writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1766‑1822) is widely considered to be the originator of the literary genres now known as science fiction and horror. His influence on literature and on culture in general cannot be underestimated. Offenbach’s opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann uses three of his works: Der Sandmann (1816); Rath Krespel (Councillor Krespel or the Cremona Violin, 1818); and Das verlorene Spiegelbild (The Lost Reflection, 1814) as the basis for its three acts, with Hoffmann as protagonist.


Hoffman’s influence was pe]]>... Thu, 26 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16676
(© Ossama el Naggar)


For connoisseurs of orchestral music, Cairo is known for some particularly wonderful 1951 recordings by the Berlin Philharmonic under the baton of the legendary Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886‑1954). These historical treasures date from one year before the end of a period known as Egypt’s “Golden European Century,” which in fact lasted 150 years. The country was then decidedly European in orientation as well as aspiration. While it may have been golden for its many European and foreign residents, it was the exact opposite for the overwhelming majority of Egyptians.


The period thus]]>... Sat, 21 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16670
I. M. Dan, H. Montague Rendall


Six years ago, La Scala gave its first performance of the most popular Viennese operetta, Die Fledermaus (1874). Last December was the famous operetta’s debut at Madrid’s Teatro Real. Barcelona’s venerable El Liceu, more open to the idea, has produced it a few times since the early sixties. However, its last time there was in 1984.


The dichotomy between opera and operetta may have lasted too long in Mediterranean countries. A Spanish form o]]>... Wed, 18 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16665
(© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


German writer Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (1766‑1822) is widely considered to be the originator of the literary genres now known as science fiction and horror. His influence on literature and on culture in general cannot be underestimated. Offenbach’s opera Les Contes d’Hoffmann uses three of his works: Der Sandmann (1816); Rath Krespel (Councillor Krespel or the Cremona Violin, 1818); and Das verlorene Spiegelbild (The Lost Reflection, 1814) as the basis for its three acts, with Hoffmann as protagonist.


Hoffman]]>... Wed, 18 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16693
(© Giacomo Orlando)


The plays of Victor Hugo (1802-1885) are the second most popular source for opera libretti after Shakespeare. Among the many operas based on his plays are Donizetti’s Il castello di Kenilworth (1829), based on Leicester, ou le château de Kenilworth and Lucrezia Borgia (1833); Pacini’s Maria, regina d’Inghiterra (1843) after Marie Tudor; Verdi’s Ernani (1844) and Rigoletto (1851), after Le roi s’amuse; Marchetti’s Ruy Blas (1869); Ponchielli’s Marion Delorme (1885); Franz Schmidt’s Notre Dame (1914); Mercadante’s Il giuramento]]>... Fri, 13 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16652
P. Beczala (© Julia Wesely)


Star tenors are a rare commodity these days, but the Polish singer Piotr Beczala, now fifty‑seven but easily passing for forty or perhaps even younger, definitely falls into that category. What a treat it was to catch him in a solo recital at Carnegie Hall, a rare event that offered a tour de force of art songs sampled from across northern European Romantic traditions. The program of thirty songs included selections – some familiar and others rarities – from Germany, Russia, and Norway, in addition to Beczala’s native Poland. Handsomely accompanied by the pianist Helmut Deutsch, with whom t]]>... Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16713
S. Hernández (© David Ruano)


Of Puccini’s most frequently performed operas (Manon Lescaut, La Bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Turandot), Madama Butterfly is the opera that has fared the poorest over time, in terms of posterity. The “Orientalist” view of the victimized Asian girl was not considered patronizing at the time of the opera’s creation, but times have changed. Even after European countries lost their colonial empires in Africa and Asia, this outdated view prevailed for much of the second half of the twentieth century. The Korean and Vietnam Wars continued to confirm this]]>... Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16664
M. Werba, M. Mariotti (© Fabrizio Sansoni/Teatro dell’Opera di Roma)


Since the end of WWII, Rome’s Teatro all’Opera has been an afterthought in Italy’s musical life. Oddly, Milan’s Teatro alla Scala, Venice’s La Fenice, Naples’ San Carlo, Florence’s Maggio Musicale and Bologna’s Teatro Comunale have all eclipsed that of Italy’s capital. This was the case in opera and even more so for orchestral music. However, I’m pleased to report this has changed in the past few years.


Michele Mariotti (b.1979) is the instigator of this amelioration. Rome’s opera house and its orchestra are indeed fortunate that he i]]>... Sun, 08 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16643
L. Tézier, B. Jagde (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


La forza del destino is a problematic opera. Among Verdi’s mature operas (his middle period, from Rigoletto onward), its libretto is the weakest. If it can be imagined, the story is even more implausible than that of Il trovatore.


In the mid eighteenth century, Don Alvaro, a nobleman of mixed blood from South America, has fallen in love with the daughter of the Marquis of Calatrava of Seville. The Marquis is vehemently opposed to this relationship. The two are interrupted while attempting to elope and the father is acciden]]>... Sat, 07 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16650
K. Yamada (© Jean-Charles Vinaj/Monte Carlo Symphony Orchestra)


“The ‘Concerto In E Minor’ is for the most part a series of rambling passages, with one or two pretty motivi, which but little is done.”
London Times, 1855


“I was glad to be once again among a thorough genius, not one of those half‑virtuosos, half‑classics who would like to combine in music the honors of virtues and the pleasures of vice.”
Felix Mendelssohn


The ultimate test for music professors, pedants, pedagogues, critics and reviewers is not Stockhausen or Bou]]>... Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16624
L. Salsi, E. Buratto (© Fabrizio Sansoni/Teatro dell’Opera di Roma)


Genova, where Simon Boccanegra takes place, is rarely featured in opera. Despite its glorious history and stunning monuments, it rarely registers with tourists visiting Italy. Many know Genova as the birthplace of Christopher Columbus (1451‑1506) and as the origin city for the culinary magic of garlic, pine nuts, basil leaves and grated cheese, known as pesto. Yet, the ubiquitous blue jeans that we wear are named after bleu de Gênes, the French appellation of a blue dye made in a nearby town and exported through Genova. The materi]]>... Sun, 24 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16636
Sir S. Hough (© Sim Canetty-Clarke)


“One of the things that touches me most when I play for an audience is that although we may be unable to communicate in words or have diametrically opposed views on hot‑button issues, while the music sounds we can be at peace, we can be friends. The vibrations that fill an auditorium have no passports, and they unite ears when hearts may be divided.” Stephen Hough


Should Ken Burns ever decide to make a sequel to last month’s documentary on Leonardo Da Vinci, Sir Stephen Hough would obviously be the subject. Da Vinci was th]]>... Sun, 24 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16615
K. Mäkelä (© Marco Borggreve)


“If you try to be anyone else when you’re holding a baton and you assume a different persona, it won’t work. A sense of authority can’t be created by external, artificial means.”
Klaus Mäkelä


“Music is only understood when one goes away singing it and only loved when one falls asleep with it in one’s head, and finds it still there on waking up the next morning.”
Arnold Schoenberg


I once asked a very esteemed Dutch conductor why, with Mahler’s German/Jewish/Austrian/Czech heritage, the only country which continuous]]>... Sat, 23 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0100 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16610