Author Archives: Alan Rich

So Far, Still Good

Posted on June 16, 1999 by Alan Rich

Art by Robert GrossmanAT 75, GIUSEPPE VERDI WAS CLIPPING rave reviews for his Otello and toying with an opera about Falstaff. At 75, Igor Stravinsky produced Agon, a major step forward in his compositional outlook. At 75 — as of … Continue reading →

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OPERA REVIEW

Posted on June 14, 1999 by Alan Rich

Adventurous, exasperating, illuminating and just plain off-the-wall: the 21-year saga of the Long Beach Opera has been all of these and more. Its operation is strictly shoestring; its stagings over the years have included a “Boris Godunov” done in street … Continue reading →

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Finnish Touches

Posted on June 9, 1999 by Alan Rich

BETWEEN OJAI’S VERDANT VALLEY AND the dour woodlands of Finland, some distance intervenes. For a time last weekend, however — the occasion of the 53rd Ojai Music Festival — you could have sworn that miles had shrunk to inches. The … Continue reading →

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OJAI FESTIVAL REVIEW

Posted on June 8, 1999 by Alan Rich

Tucked into a valley northeast of Ventura (which served filmmaker Frank Capra as site for the original version of “Lost Horizon,”) the town of Ojai (pop. 7500) is no more than a 90-minute drive from downtown Los Angeles. One weekend … Continue reading →

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An Absentee Lucia

Posted on June 2, 1999 by Alan Rich

POOR, SWEET, PUT-UPON LUCIA OF LAMMERMOOR. BOTH the opera and its heroine have been far more sinned against than sinning, burdened with evils of the spirit and flesh. The debatable notion prevails here and there in opera-buffdom that underneath Donizetti’s … Continue reading →

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The Product, Triumphant

Posted on May 26, 1999 by Alan Rich

IT WAS A MONTH FOR SYMPHONIES: Mozart in full glory, two unfamiliar Dvorák delectables, one often-roasted chestnut from the Shostakovich legacy and another more rare — and, of course, the Nine. Beethoven’s inscrutable legacy drew sell out crowds to Costa … Continue reading →

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RE: BEETHOVEN

Posted on May 24, 1999 by Alan Rich

An all-in-one festival of the Beethoven Nine is one of music’s can’t-lose propositions. The size is right: five concerts of leisurely length, with room here and there for an overture or two. The music, needless to say, is also right: … Continue reading →

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Let's Hear It for Ockeghem

Posted on May 19, 1999 by Alan Rich

Photo by William WegmanLISTENING TO VERY OLD MUSIC DEMANDS a confrontation on shaky ground between the imaginations of the long-dead composer and the listener presumed alive. However pious the press releases may read on the subject of “authentic performance practice … Continue reading →

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The Beethoven Imperative

Posted on May 12, 1999 by Alan Rich

“Gusts of splendor, gods and demi-gods contending with vast swords, color and fragrance broadcast on the field of battle, magnificent victory . . . it will be generally admitted that Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is the most sublime noise that has … Continue reading →

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Opera Elsewhere

Posted on May 5, 1999 by Alan Rich

LAST FRIDAY WAS WALPURGIS EVE, when witches ride and ballerinas glide, a festivity that provides the only justification I can think of for producing Charles Gounod’s Faust. Bill di Donato’s Bel Canto Opera did its usual patch-‘n’-paste job, in the … Continue reading →

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