The Classical Music Network (English) Mon, 30 Jun 2025 22:47:36 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/ http://www.concertonet.com/images/concertonet.jpg http://www.concertonet.com/
C. Immler, D. Reuter-Harrah (© Taco Ma‑Suaydee)


“I have always aimed at facility. Music should not be an effort. A good composer should able to set public notices to music.”
Georg Philipp Telemann


“Telemann could write an eight-part motet as quickly as I could write a short letter.”
Georg Friedrich Händel


Several decades ago, when Mahler was paired with Bruckner and dissonance was paired with decadence, Georg Philipp Telemann was associated with P.D.Q. Bach, one of the hundreds of German Baroque composers smashed together into a]]>... Sun, 29 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17017
M. Menha, H.-J. Kang (© Wiener Staatsoper/Ashley Taylor)


The Sleeping Beauty (1890), the second of Tchaikovsky’s three ballets, is less frequently performed than Swan Lake (1877) and The Nutcracker (1892). It’s also the most “French” of the three, as the others take place in Germany and The Nutcracker is based on Nussknacker und Mausekönig (1816), a tale by German writer E.T.A. Hoffmann (1766‑1822).


Prince Ivan Alexandrovitch Vsevolojsky (1835‑1909), Director of the Imperial Theatres and an ardent Francophile, is said to have specifically chosen the ]]>... Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17011
J. Savall (© Carlos Suarez)


After recording Beethoven’s nine symphonies for his record label, Alia Vox, Jordi Savall is touring the world performing the complete cycle. The nine works are performed over four evenings. I was fortunate enough to obtain entry to one of the sold‑out performances. Thoroughly appreciative of the recordings, I fully expected to enjoy the live experience. Happily, the results exceeded my expectations.


The sheer emotion in hearing Beethoven performed live in Vienna’s Konzerthaus, inaugurated in 1913, is beyond description. Despite innumerable Viennese visits, this w]]>... Tue, 24 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17004
G. Lee, H.-T. Weigl, A. Monserrat (© Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn)


In 1868, a beautiful building called Künstlerhaus was inaugurated in Vienna. One of the earliest buildings on the Ringstrasse, it was designed in the style of an Italian Renaissance villa (actually after Jacobo Sansovino rather than Palladio). Initially, it was the meeting place of the Society of Young Artists and Academics, which merged with another artists’ society to form an association of Viennese painters, sculptors and architects. In 1897, several artists seceded from the Künstlerhaus to form the famous Vienna Secession movement.


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The Crossing (© Charles Grove)


“Land, land, my dear friends. I see land!”
Immanuel Kant when his servant finally brought him his morning coffee (from Harry Rolnick, The Complete Book of Coffee)


“Two things fill the mind with ever-increasing wonder and awe, the more often and the more intensely the mind of thought is drawn to them: the starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.”
Immanuel Kant, Critique of Practical Reason


One can’t call an evening of The Crossing a choral concert. The two‑dozen singers under Donald ]]>... Fri, 20 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16993
Live: E. Peci, C. Schoch (© Wiener Staatsballett/Ashley Taylor)


Mahler’s music, marvelous as it is, is not what comes to mind when I think of dance in general and ballet in particular. Though there have been ballets choreographed to his Third Symphony by John Neumeier, the Adagietto from the Fifth Symphony by both Maurice Béjart and John Neumeier and several choreographies of Das Lied von der Erde by Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, Antony Tudor and Heinz Spoerli, Mahler’s music – characterized by emotional vicissitudes, from melancholy to turbulence – is not conventionally ballab]]>... Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17002
V. Peleggi (© Bo Lutoslawski)


Considered one of Rossini’s greatest opere serie, Semiramide (1823) was also his last Italian opera premiered before relocating to London and later Paris where he wrote his final three operas, Il viaggio a Reims (1825), a ceremonial piece on the occasion of the coronation of France’s new monarch; and the French language masterpieces Le Comte Ory (1828) and Guillaume Tell (1829).


Based on Voltaire’s play Sémiramis (1746), the mythical Babylonian queen inspired several operas prior to Rossini’s: Gluck’s La Semiramide riconosciuta]]>... Tue, 17 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17001
A. Schager, A. Kampe (© Wiener Staatsballett/Michael Poehn)


Having seen the first three instalments over the last few days, I had already formed an opinion of this Ring: excellent singers, an unparalleled orchestra, but uninspired staging. As with other opera aficionados with whom I spoke, I had high expectations and some trepidation. Given the work’s length, especially the first act, which lasts as long as La bohème in its entirety, this could have been a challenging experience. Fortunately, it was just the opposite. This was without doubt the best of Vienna’s four Ring operas.


... Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17013
A. Kampe, A. Schager (© Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn)


After enduring visually underwhelming productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre days earlier, I expected more of the same: great voices and orchestra in a disappointingly uninspired production. Unfortunately my prediction was accurate. Bland productions are legion but exquisite orchestral playing and beautiful singing are rare, so this production at least had this going for it. The Wiener Philharmoniker pla]]>... Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17008
K. Petrenko (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


Rome’s Orchestra dell’Accademia Santa Cecilia ended its season with a glorious concert, first given at home and then reprised at Milan’s La Scala. Italy’s most prestigious orchestra at the world’s finest opera house, under the baton of a magician – one could not hope for more.


Kirill Petrenko, chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, occasionally conducts this fine ensemble. Despite the sporadic nature of their collaboration, Italy’s prime orchestra seems utterly under the Russian conductor’s spell. Indeed, the eclectic program chosen was a]]>... Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16992
R. Strauss/E. van den Heever
(© Portrait by Max Liebermann (1918)/Chris Gonz)


“The human voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but the most difficult to play.”
Richard Strauss


Not so long ago, the names Aram Khatchaturian and Richard Strauss were greeted with snorts, snickers and all‑out condescending laughter from the usual snobbish sophists. The former was “too exotic, too simple, too superficial” for serious listeners. Strauss was “too romantic, too 19th Century, too..., well, too beautiful.”


... Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16982
(© Bresica e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


For the first time, the Milanese public have experienced the complete version of the rarely-performed ballet Paquita, employing Pierre Lacotte’s splendid and recherché choreography. In 2001, the recently deceased Lacotte (1932‑2023) was commissioned by the Paris Opera to reconstruct this epic Romantic ballet. It’s this epic choreography which La Scala has chosen in presenting Paquita.


Despite its infrequent appearance internationally, Paquita is known, at least by name, by many ballet aficionados. Premiered in Paris in 1846, it ]]>... Wed, 11 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16986
(© Agathe Poupeney/Opéra national de Paris)


Damiano Michieletto, one of the most talented opera directors of our time, was for me the draw to attend this 2014 revival, the Italian director’s first for the Paris Opera. In stark contrast to most settings, where Don Bartolo is wealthy and living in splendour, here it’s set in working class contemporary Seville. In the libretto, Count Almaviva tells Figaro he noticed a lovely girl in the Spanish capital and is there to pursue her (“Al Prado vidi un fior di bellezza, una fanciulla figlia d’un certo medico barbogio”). To be invited to Court, Rosina would have to be from an afflue]]>... Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16995
A. Khachaturian, K. Poghosyan (© Roger Pic/karineplays.com)


“I would describe Russian music as ‘light serious’ or ‘serious light’. It must be tuneful and comprehensibly tuneful, and must not be repetitious or stamped with triviality.”
Sergei Prokofiev


“Bright, joyous and optimistic.”
Aram Khatchaturian, on his 1962 Piano Sonata


Of the famed Soviet composer-troika, Aram Khatchaturian was easily the most joyous. Dmitri Shostakovich was sarcastic, gloomy, dismal, afraid of censorship, filling his music with codes, chimeras, sec]]>... Tue, 10 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16977
J.-M. Zeitouni, M.-N. Lemieux, E. Hasler (© Agence BigJaw)


Carmen is one of the most perfect operas in the repertoire, thanks to its inspired setting, its marvelous orchestration and its beautifully-conceived vocal parts. But most of all, Bizet’s masterwork still holds power thanks to its intense drama. It was highly‑admired by no less than Gustav Mahler, who championed the work while Director of the Vienna Court Opera. It’s thought of as an indestructible work, a glorious stage success no matter whose vision we are witnessing. Carmen herself could be interpreted by a mezzo or a soprano; dialogue can be spoken ]]>... Sat, 07 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16976
K. F. Vogt, C. Nylund (© Brescia e Amisano/Teatro alla Scala)


La Scala’s Ring cycle continues triumphantly, thanks to an exceptionally good cast and to David McVicar’s brilliant vision of Wagner’s tetralogy. This production of Siegfried is less exotic than the previous two operas, which generously blended Wagner’s Norse mythology with that of the rest of the world (Asia, Africa, South Pacific). Nonetheless, McVicar’s innovative vision remains constant, and despite the striking imagery, the production is refreshingly uncluttered.
... Fri, 06 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16991
R. Mobley, G. Nha, L. Meunier (© Samuel A. Dog)


“I have always kept one end in view: To conduct my church music in the honor of God.”
Johann Sebastian Bach


“If God blesses us, we may make a profit. And a considerable one at that.”
Antonio Vivaldi


After their first 50 years, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s (the name comes from their initial church performance) is more golden than ever. Last night’s concerts may have had a few defects. But the orchestra strings themselves, under the baton-less speedy tempi of Lionel Meunier, radiated. ]]>... Tue, 03 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16968
S. Schneider, A. Kampe (© Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn)


After a visually dull Das Rheingold two days earlier, my expectations weren’t high for this Die Walküre. Sven‑Eric Bechtolf’s production of the first opera of Wagner’s tetralogy was one of the most visually forgettable I have seen.


The first act of Die Walküre opens to an austere set. A lone dining table (or is it a big picnic table?) centered around a tree where the mythical sword Nothung is firmly lodged. I’d say it’s a rather impractical way ]]>... Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=17005
S. Skelton, N. Stemme, K. Cargill (© Linda Holt)


This is Yannick Nézet‑Séguin’s year for Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde. This month, the indefatigable conductor and artistic director, who commutes between the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City’s Metropolitan Opera, is leading two performances of the complete concert version in the City of Brotherly Love. The performances feature the warmth and power of the Philadelphia Orchestra (some 100 musicians), 40 men’s choristers from the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir (Donald Palumbo, director) and a spectacular cast of singers led by Nina Stemme.


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I. Paterson, D. Behle (© Wiener Staatsoper/Michael Pöhn)


A vocally excellent, scenically modest Ring seems to be the order of the day. Given that copious productions of a finite number of operas are presented worldwide at any given time, it follows that innovation, or even a fresh take on an old storyline, is rare. However, for the cerebral operas of Wagner, there are enough creative possibilities to inspire even moderately creative stage directors. Unfortunately, visual beauty and revelatory ideas aren’t in abundance for German director Sven‑Eric Bechtolf staging of Das Rheingold.


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K. L. Bates/M. Kwon (© Schlesinger Library, Harvard University)


“I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear.”
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass


“The way to write American music is simple. All you have to do is be an American and then write any kind of music you wish.”
Virgil Thomson


With my imaginary druthers, I’d choose America the Beautiful as second choice for our National Anthem. (The first would be Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land, but these days, the title sounds like chatter among Trump’]]>... Wed, 28 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16955
J. Wedman, S. Marino (© Dahlia Katz)


This concert promised to be a revelation. Venezuelan countertenor Samuel Marino, who’d already seduced Toronto two years earlier, returns with an eclectic selection of arias from the classical period. The concert alternated between orchestral pieces and operatic arias, not from the baroque era, as one would expect from a countertenor, but rather from the period of Sturm und Drang (late eighteenth century).


Some of the featured composers were familiar, such as Mozart, Haydn, Gluck and (to a lesser extent) Salieri, while others would have been unknown to the a]]>... Fri, 23 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16959
R. Thomas, M. Owens (© COC)


In the last days of its season, Toronto’s Canadian Opera Company offered a curiosity: Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana in a concert version. It’s an odd choice for this action‑packed verismo opera. For many, the main attraction was the announced Santuzza, to be performed by Anna Pirozzi, Italy’s sensational dramatic soprano, heard ici in La Gioconda in Catania. However, a couple of days before the performance, it was announced that Pirozzi was indisposed, to be replaced by American soprano M]]>... Fri, 23 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16957
K. Soper (© Marco Giugliarelli)


“If, as is always the case, music appears to express something, this is always an illusion, and not a reality.”
Igor Stravinsky


“There’s almost no content in terms of language at all. I don’t like using language to convey meaning. I’d rather use images and music.”
Philip Glass


If this week’s New York Philharmonic concerts presage next year’s Gustavo Dudamel stewardship, then New York should be ready for one of the dynamic (and probably accessible) season since Leonard Bernstein.


The th]]>... Thu, 22 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16948
(© Jessica Latouche)


Il trovatore is one of Verdi’s most enduring operas. Melodically rich, it’s built on the foundation of four great roles: Manrico, the Troubadour, a tenor; Leonora, a soprano; the gypsy Azucena, a mezzo; and il Conte di Luna, a baritone. The arias, duets and trios written for these voices eclipse much of Verdi’s previous operatic output.


Dramatically, it’s intense but highly implausible. It’s easy to ridicule an opera whose plot originates with a nobleman burning a gypsy woman at the stake, her daughter Azucena seeking revenge by attempting to burn alive the killer’s c]]>... Sat, 17 May 2025 00:00:00 +0200 http://www.concertonet.com/scripts/review.php?ID_review=16942