Category Archives: A Little Night Music

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 →

It was a week of pianists: top-dollar virtuosos at the Music Center, an early-music specialist at a “historic site,” a new-music specialist at the County Museum, brains and brawn with the L.A. Chamber Orchestra at Glendale’s Alex. If the results … Continue reading →

Photo courtesy Allegro Films By the same distance that the Elgar Cello Concerto is a better piece of music than the Rach 3, so is Hilary and Jackie a more honorable piece of movie making than Shine. As a teller … Continue reading →

Photo by Diane AlancraigWithin a few days last week, a fearless listener could have taken in a wildly diverse and mostly wonderful panorama of new-music creativity and ended up the better for the effort. Just as a sample: At the … Continue reading →

The Dutchman of legend must fly through tempestuous seas for seven years before he can seek redemption; for a while it has looked as if operatic ambitions hereabouts were similarly doomed. Salvation, however — or a pretty good likeness thereof … Continue reading →

Over the past few years I have occasionally been moved to deliver unhappy words about this or that production by our local opera company. Following these occasions, I have often been summoned to lunch by Peter Hemmings, the company’s general … Continue reading →

Between the solemn ritual of Kurt Masur’s Beethoven, with his visiting New York Philharmonic at Royce Hall, and the giddy flamboyance of Junichi Hirokami’s Rachmaninoff, with the local gang at the Music Center, the choice is easy as to which … Continue reading →

One hundred entries is actually a paltry list to represent the achievements of this or any other musical century. Even so, let’s boil it down even further to an indispensable 10-plus-10, which you will accept only with the promise to … Continue reading →

Artwork by Peter Bennett A year begins, a century ends. The Los Angeles Philharmonic’s last 1998 concert included music by Olivier Messiaen, a significant creator and inspirational force of recent decades; it starts this year with music by Toru Takemitsu, … Continue reading →