Author Archives: Alan Rich

Word has it that the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra of the U.S.S.R. — to use its full title this once — is some kind of stupendous performing organization. Word, this once, is right.Its history is splendid enough. Descended from the orchestra … Continue reading →

Like a powerful and refreshing cleansing agent, the sound of Roger Norrington’s London Classical Players swept through the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center on Sunday night. It lit lights in the dark corners, clearing out the accumulated sludge … Continue reading →

In the 27 years since its founding, the Opera Workshop at the California State University at Northridge has provided valuable training to its young participants, and substantial entertainment to the folks out front as well. Its over 100 productions have … Continue reading →

They’re off and running again in Pasadena.Saturday night at the Civic Auditorium, Jorge Mester and his Pasadena Symphony Orchestra ended their season’s opening concert with a mighty sprint through Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony — transformed for the occasion from the … Continue reading →

At New York’s Carnegie Hall last month, Andre Previn had led the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Steven Stucky’s “Angelus” and William Schuman’s Third Symphony, and was scheduled to do so again this week at the Music Center. Later discovering that … Continue reading →

Over the past 40 years more or less, under one or another name, the Monday Evening Concerts have served to instruct, thrill, irritate, bore and fascinate audiences of various sizes, with their obsessive programs devoted mostly to the outer edges … Continue reading →

The spirit of Mischa Schneider hovered smilingly over UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Sunday afternoon. Cellist of the Budapest Quartet of fond memory, teacher and saintly friend to all chamber-music players, Schneider is now celebrated in “Music for Mischa,” a moveable … Continue reading →

Maybe the Glendale Symphony Orchestra isn’t actually in or from Glendale. But the crowd that made the pilgrimage to the Music Center on Sunday night, to greet the start of the ensemble’s 67th season, made it quite clear that this … Continue reading →

I”VE MADE A FEW QUICK CHANGES HERE AS A ROUGH UPDATE. Nobody with any sense of history could have taken Leonard Bernstein’s retirement announcement of last Tuesday at face value. He had, after all, made the announcement before: casting off … Continue reading →

Recitals by strong-fingered pianists are reasonably common. Strong-fingered pianists with equally strong musical intelligence are a far rarer phenomenon. Monday night’s Music Center concert by Andras Schiff, however, proved eminently satisfactory on both counts. The program itself was a particularly … Continue reading →