Author Archives: Alan Rich

Photo by Susesch BayatCHARLES LINDBERGH’S SOLO FLIGHT across the Atlantic in May 1927 sent the world into a tizzy of adoration. It spawned parades, popular songs, Lucky Lindy Hair Tonic and — not the least — a strange but endearing … Continue reading →

Photo by Ken HowardLAST WEEK’S VISIT BY THE ENSEMBLE Intercontemporain delivered exhilaration and bafflement in equal measure; I don’t think I was the only member of the commendably large crowd at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall to leave the concert wondering what … Continue reading →

TWO PERFORMANCES OF THE “GREAT” C-MAJOR Symphony; in between, the no-less-great C-minor Sonata: We Schubertians, a noble if embattled breed, had reason to stand tall last week. Great performances of great works reveal new facets, no matter how familiar the … Continue reading →

Photo by Dimo SafariDURING INTERMISSION AT LAST THURSDAY’S Philharmonic concert, the talk in my corner was about long-lost or neglected composers. The concert had begun with Arthur Honegger’s Symphonie Liturgique, which the orchestra had last played in 1949. It was … Continue reading →

ASK ANY ORCHESTRAL MANAGER, ANYWHERE IN THE world, and you’ll get the same answer: There is no better way to pave a pathway to financial ruin than by playing new music. The real money flows in to the tunes of … Continue reading →

THE ART FOR A RECENT ECM DISC SHOWS a solitary figure on a shadowy, fog-swept landscape, his worldly possessions, including a drum and a trumpet, beside him in loose bundles. The photograph — as is usual with this exceptionally arts-aware … Continue reading →

STRANGE, THESE CONFLUENCES. LAST week was the time of the double bass: Italy’s Stefano Scodanibbio, with Terry Riley, in an off-the-wall Monday Evening Concert at the County Museum; the multiphased Edgar Meyer in a new concerto of his own fashioning … Continue reading →

TARRED WITH THE BRUSH OF “CONSERVAtive,” politicians turn into bogeyman figures suitable for frightening small children. Composers are not so drastically afflicted. Their world may not be mine, but I feel safe there on occasional visits. At Pasadena City College, … Continue reading →

MY NORMAL REACTION TO THE VIOLIN Concerto of Johannes Brahms is one of resigned tolerance. People whose friendship I cherish pretend to like it, therefore I must. In the past year, however, I have had two epiphanies about the work, … Continue reading →

THE L.A. OPERA’S CURRENT LA TRAVIATA — its second attempt to scale the expressive heights of Verdi’s irresistible tragedy — is its best production so far this season (five down, two to go), but that, alas, isn’t saying very much. … Continue reading →