Author Archives: Alan Rich

There could have been no doubt that Aleksei Sultanov could play the piano– not, at least, after the diminutive, 19-year-old Soviet black-belt (Tae Kwon Do) owner stormed through the  ranks of contenders at the Eighth Annual Van Cliburn International Piano … Continue reading →

Despite ugly rumors to the contrary, there are still new things –even old new things — under the sun. When, for example, did you last hear George Frideric Handel’s “Il Pastor Fido” — not, moreover, in the composer’s 1734 updating … Continue reading →

SAN FRANCISCO Since his arrival on the musical scene some 20 years ago, Philip Glass has made important noises on many fronts. He is beyond question our most prolific and often-produced composer of opera; concerts of his music have done … Continue reading →

The sun finally burned through the  fog late Sunday afternoon, in time to lend its glow to the last measures of Pierre Boulez’s “Improvisations sur Mallarme” and, thus, to the end of the 43rd annual Ojai Festival. Even in the … Continue reading →

The question needs to be asked: is today’s American composer really better off than his predecessor a generation or two ago? Is there an audience — meaning, in down-to-earth terms, a market — for serious, challenging, original, large-scale, new native … Continue reading →

Some composers work with a quill pen, some with a computer. Andrew Lloyd Webber may not be the first composer to operate on a treadmill, but he is certainly the best paid. We’ve heard it all before. From the beginning … Continue reading →

It was an exhilarating ending to a remarkable concert series: Pierre Boulez and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, ending their three weeks at UCLA’s Royce Hall, not with a whimper but a bang — many bangs, in fact. The piece was … Continue reading →

Twenty years have passed since the happy crowds dashed through Count Almaviva’s palace to celebrate the marriage of Figaro and Susanna. Figaro and Susanna are still the Count’s faithful retainers, and the entourage is increased by the presence of a … Continue reading →

[FI STYLE, OPERA] [QL RICH, MUSIC FOR TUESDAY, MAY 23] NEW YORK Whenever Louis XIV needed some opera to sweeten the air in his new palace at Versailles, he snapped his royal fingers and his favorite composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully, sprang … Continue reading →

After 800 years, Hildegard von Bingen is back in the headlines. Records of her music are beginning to pile up. Only last week there was a very clear   photograph of her in a West Side throwaway paper. (At least I … Continue reading →