Comment Archives: stories: Music: Classical
Re: “Blakemore Trio releases its debut album”
I'm sure this is widely available on the interwebs, but where can one buy this album in Nashville?
Re: “Our interview with the legendary George Takei”
You can always tell a liberal wacko - they resort to name-calling. George Takei is not legendary. As someone who grew up on that series, sorry. Yawn. But, other members of the Star Trek cast ... ARE. He's like a Facts of Life cast member, not Seinfeld. And obviously from the response here, nobody else really cares about this drivel either - it's a story that has nothing to do with Nashville. My point exactly. Anyway, time to go to work and pay taxes for the Bonnaroo fleabags!
Re: “Our interview with the legendary George Takei”
That comment does not even make sense. What's your criticism of George Takei? His work on Star Trek? His work as a gay rights activist? Or are you just a comment-trolling hater?
Re: “Our interview with the legendary George Takei”
He's not legendary - it's just another supposed 'tattoo phase awakening' ... just before you grow up and start paying taxes. Next.
Re: “Composer Michael Alec Rose reveals his dramatic side in a concert of his virtuoso concertos”
Shelby is a terrific and talented young woman.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
I got the last seat in the house for tonight's performance, and the NSO was tremendous. Loved the guy in front of me who couldn't restrain himself from conducting in his seat, and his wife kept gently patting his arm. As someone who can't hear "Seven Nation Army" without involuntary air-guitaring, I sympathized with him.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
Few tickets were available for tonight, and few are still available for Sunday. Some people with tickets don't show, but the hall were pretty packed tonight, and enthusiastic. I won't speak for the quality of the performance, since I was one of the performers, but the piece is spectacular and well worth listening. As for the expense--the NSO is a business (a nonprofit, but a business) and one of the best-managed orchestras in the country. I think it safe to say that Alan Valentine and Co. know how to weigh the costs and benefits of these gala openings.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
For the record, I got the dates from Edward Downes' "The New York Philharmonic Guide to the Symphony" and Michael Steinberg's "The Symphony." Both Downes and Steinberg were former program annotators for a little band called the New York Philharmonic, which used to be led by a music director named Gustav Mahler. Mahler died on May 18, 1911, not in 1910.
Most people who attended the 1910 Munich premiere were certain that Mahler was alive when he conducted the orchestra. There was one naysayer, however, a certain Mark von Claytonberg, who was convinced that Mahler was dead, that Bruno Walter and Thomas Mann had conspired to kill him, and that Alma Mahler impersonated her husband on the podium. Claytonberg conceded he didn't have evidence, but he could speculate ....
As for monstrous wastes of money, I can think of a few -- tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, funding for weapons systems that either don't work or have no strategic purpose whatsoever. Spending money on music that both enriches the soul and sells out concert halls is not one of them.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
Mr. Pitcher might well ask what you've been reading (or smoking). I haven't found a single source that supports what you're saying. On the other hand, there's this:
http://observer.com/2004/11/mahlers-massiv…
and this:
http://www.seattlesymphony.org/symphony/bu…
and this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._…)
I'll supply more if needed from the more than 5 million results I found on Google.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
"Mahler composed this massive symphony in a white heat, finishing it in less than two months during the summer of 1906. He conducted the world premiere himself on Sept. 12, 1910, in Munich." ( This quote from the above commentary appears to be completely wrong!) Others say the piece was written 1910, never conducted by Mahler. He was dead and Bruno Walter conducted it the first time. What does Mr. Pitcher read?
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
Anyone who's seen any of the other NSO Mahler performances, I'll wager. Or for that matter, anything else the NSO has done of late. The performances I've seen have rivaled any rock concert around here in years for excitement and audience enthusiasm.
A friend told me she couldn't get tickets for tonight's show. Guess the Schermerhorn is the proverbial joint that's so crowded nobody goes there anymore.
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero launches the Nashville Symphony's 2012-13 season with Mahler's mightiest work”
Every orchestra is going broke and you program this budget buster? Who is paying for this? Who wants to hear this monstrous waste of time and money?
Re: “Composer Richard Danielpour's latest work pays heartfelt tribute to the victims of Iranian tyranny”
Hey check out (and like) an interesting take on composer Mahler's Fourth Symphony and the many different renditions interpreted by other musicians written by one of the editors of Culture Catch Mr. Holtje at: http://culturecatch.com/music/mahler-fourt…
Re: “Pianist Emanuel Ax performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 2 highlights a strong Nashville Symphony program”
The secret melody to Elgar's 'Enigma' Variations is 'Ein feste Burg' (A Mighty Fortress) by Martin Luther. There are various musical ciphers embedded in the Variations confirming the identities of both the hidden Principal Theme and the hidden Friend. To learn more about these intriguing discoveries, visit enigmathemeunmasked.blogspot.com
Re: “Giancarlo Guerrero and the Nashville Symphony unearth the heavenly power of Mahler's "Resurrection" Symphony”
Arrggh--I'm out of town this year and unable to sing this with the Chorus, as I did when the NSO (with von Stade) performed the fourth and fifth movements of the Resurrection for the gala opening of the Schermerhorn in 2006. But I still think that the choral entrance we did then was the single best thing the Chorus has ever done. Because the hall is *so* noiseless, we were able to come in at ppp or maybe even pppp, and it was less a "sound" than a sonic bath. Knowing how great the Chorus (and George Mabry's leadership) is, I'm sure they've gone one better this time.
Re: “Alias adds urban chic with works by Gabriel Prokofiev, hip-hop-inspired grandson of Sergei”
This is a great article about Gabriel Prokofiev's piece that is on the ALIAS program on Saturday. I urge anyone who is interested to go to the ALIAS website for an in-depth interview conducted with Prokofiev about his music. Some of that interview is quoted in the article above. As a side note, I was very fortunate to hear ALIAS' performance of this piece during one of their rehearsals. It is definitely worth the price of the concert ticket, but so is his grandfather's "Overture on Hebrew Themes."
Re: “Upcoming Music City Baroque program highlights the parallels between the Baroque violin repertoire and American fiddle music”
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Re: “Conductor Leonard Slatkin sits on the sidelines as his orchestra in Detroit self-destructs”
With so much at stake, I wonder what Slatkin thinks his silence will accomplish. It's time he spoke up. Not to take a side is to take a side. Management wants nothing more than to dismantle the DSO. And he sits on the sidelines. I have lost my respect for him.
Re: “Conductor Leonard Slatkin sits on the sidelines as his orchestra in Detroit self-destructs”
"DSO management ... have had plans to 're-invent' the Detroit Symphony all along."
Unfortunately in most cases, "re-invent" is just a code for dumb down, as in less Stravinsky, more Symphonic Music of Styx.
Re: “Blakemore Trio releases its debut album”
For the moment, this CD is narrowly available exclusively at www.bluegriffin.com. It will become nationally available, on amazon.com and other sites, in April. I'll try to find out whether the disc will be available at local bookstores, etc. More to come.