Category Archives: A Little Night Music

Painting by Tahir Salahov,Courtesy Los AngelesPhilharmonicDark Regions E-flat minor is dank and sinister territory. Ascribing personalities to specific tonalities is a shifty business at best; very often mere mechanical considerations of particular instruments make the difference. The E-string is the … Continue reading →

Photo by Robert MillardSacred Richard Wagner’s Parsifal stands as one of opera’s unassailable peaks; full credit is due to any company for attempting the work at all – and, I suppose, to any audience willing to undergo its five-hour dimensions. … Continue reading →

Photo by Walter SchelsPianists: Two of the world’s best began and ended the Philharmonic year at Disney. For starters, Mitsuko Uchida – who does for pantsuits what Olivier used to do for Hamlet – lit magical lights through all five … Continue reading →

Home Away From Home Home, to Sir Simon Rattle, is the familiar musical repertory we most often hear at concerts and on the radio, music from the 19th century or before, when the tunes and the harmonies were friendly and … Continue reading →

Last Breaths During the several years’ survey of the symphonies of Dmitri Shostakovich, the Philharmonic has had the admirable idea of preceding each symphony with the like-numbered string quartet in a pre-concert presentation, performed by orchestra members. Those quartet performances … Continue reading →

Bravely, Uphill Alone on a concert stage or facing an orchestra, András Schiff is a comforting presence. He puts on no airs, nor does his music-making. Something about his quiet, undemonstrative manner tells us that we, and his chosen music, … Continue reading →

Two concerts, on successive nights of a recent weekend, were enough to restore anyone’s faith in the continued strengths of our music, our music makers and the people who make music happen. Both drew capacity, cheering crowds. I’ll write about … Continue reading →

Still Bound Just that teasing first chirp from the superb woodwind contingent was news good enough to start off the Philharmonic’s 87th season, its third in Disney Concert Hall, the first of its “Beethoven Unbound” series. That sound – the … Continue reading →

The Clouds Gather Like the explosive “gadget” that forms its centerpiece, John Adams’ Doctor Atomic casts a blinding light upon the gloomy musical landscape. Suddenly there is something new and famous in classical music: an American opera, no less – … Continue reading →

“Look, here’s a young couple back from their fellowship in Europe. They’ve had a year of good bread, good cheese, good wine. They should be able to enjoy those things here and for not very much money. They can’t do … Continue reading →