Category: music

“Manfred Honeck’s appointment as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra has the appearance of an overnight success because he is not well-known in North America. But his rise to this role has been a long journey…”

Despite having spent a couple of seasons without a music director, Andrew Patner says that two recent European performances show that the Chicago Symphony is having no trouble maintaining its reputation and its unique sound. “The pairing of Dutch maestro Bernard Haitink and the CSO is happening at exactly the right time for both sides of the coupling and is getting results that far exceed those expected.”

The new opera based on the David Cronenberg horror classic, The Fly, was universally panned by critics in its opening weekend. “When a work of art of any kind crashes and burns so spectacularly, the question isn’t really why, but how? …I can’t help think it came down to that old Greek word hubris.”

Many observers were surprised when George Steel, known for his innovative programming as head of Columbia University’s Miller Theater, announced that he would be leaving New York to take over as chief of the very traditional, cautiously programmed Dallas Opera. Will his commitment to new music and reputation as a trailblazer be of any use at a conservative company in a conservative part of the country?

The American music world is celebrating Leonard Bernstein’s 90th birthday this year, and looking back at the man’s career, whether as conductor, composer, or speaker, it’s clear that his discography represents one of music’s most complete and engaging portraits. “For those of us of a certain age part of Bernstein’s appeal was his ability to teach, painlessly.”

Jaap van Zweden has conducted his first concert as music director of the Dallas Symphony, and critic Scott Cantrell, never a fan of van Zweden’s predecessor, Andrew Litton, is blown away. “Whatever you’ve planned, drop it and get to one of these performances… The high-drama moments were dazzling, but no less amazing were the many delicacies.”

“If you’re a classical music connoisseur, chances are you’ve never felt much love for the likes of iTunes and Napster.” But this week, a music download service specializing in classical was launched, featuring much higher fidelity than traditional downloads, and a library that already boasts 18,000 titles.

The New Jersey State Opera, “which was deeply in debt and in danger of folding after four decades after its founder, Alfredo Silipigni, died two years ago, has been reorganized” and will have its first performance since 2006 this weekend. The company is also looking to build a summer venue on the Jersey Shore.

Classical music concerts weren’t always presented in the format they now are. “The problem isn’t that the modern way of giving concerts has grown hopelessly decrepit, as some say; it’s that music has for too long been restricted to a single, almost universally duplicated format.”

“The 12-inch vinyl LP record — in decline for the past two decades, clung to only by DJs, audiophile nerds and collectors — is back. Sales of new LPs are on the rise — the only segment of the market for physical-format recorded music (CDs, tapes and records) to expand during the digital revolution — and more groups are releasing albums on vinyl, often creatively packaged in combination with digital formats.”