Concertgebouw: kids dig it...

Just found this bit from Brandon Shaw, a music student at Azusa Pacific University. He recently attended the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra concert in L.A. Here's a bit of Brandon's post:

"I went to Walt Disney Hall tonight and saw the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra from Amsterdam. They played Strauss’ Don Juan and Mahler V. They were fantastic. It was an experience unlike any other form of entertainment out there today. I was not only entertained. I was enriched. There are people out there who still love classical music and see the beauty in it and can appreciate it, even in our simple-media focused culture. These people will continue to enjoy what is one of the most wonderful forms of art."

Read the rest of Brandon's post here.

For all you Brandons out there in the Boston area, Concertgebouw is yours to discover tomorrow at Symphony Hall. Yes, there will be student rush tickets. www.celebrityseries.org

Pianist and poet Alfred Brendel from "Cursing Bagels"

Alfred Brendel

Pianist Alfred Brendel's poetry has graced this blog before. I can tell myself that the distinctive dry wit of his poems may offer some insight into his piano performances, but the truth is I just like his poetry. I think they would be funny, irreverent, etc. witty even if they were written by my dry cleaner (actually more so in that case). But then I would have a hard time justifying singing their praises in a blog more or less representing my employer. Because Mr. Brendel has often performed here under the auspices of the Celebrity Series of Boston - and will again, and for the final time, on February 22 - I have had the excuse I need:

That pianos
should not merely be cooked
but also smoked
has recently been discovered
by pure chance
A fire in the local piano store
surprisingly revealed
that smoked pianos
sound nobler than cooked ones
In huge fireplaces
they now hang
those dispensers of musical delight
like blackened hams
before
smokey-grey and spicy
they satisfy the cognoscenti
Henceforth
the famous house of Bösenstein
will refrain
from boiling pianos hard or soft
according to taste

-by Alfred Brendel with Richard Stokes (translator) from Cursing Bagels, Faber and Faber, 2004

Yo-Yo hits the op-ed page

In case you missed it, Yo-Yo Ma (some sort of musician, I think) has an op-ed piece in today's Boston Herald. The article, titled Culture's a Gift to Give, is based on Ma's remarks before the World Economic Forum in Switzerland last week. Here's a sample:

"Over the past 30 years as a professional
cellist, I have spent the equivalent of two full decades on the road, both
performing and learning about musical traditions and cultures. My travels have
convinced me that in our globalized world, cultural traditions form an essential
framework for identity, social stability and compassionate interaction."

Read all of Culture's a Gift to Give.

"A symphony fantastique at Davies" - Concertgebouw conquers SF

Maestro Mariss Jansons

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and conductor Mariss Jansons are on the West Coast now, which is the opposite of how European orchestra's typically find their way to Boston. Today's San Francisco Chronicle features a review of the Amsterdam-based orchestra's two performance engagement at Davies Hall. Here's a bit of the understandably gushing praise:

"Davies Hall spilled over with orchestral light - limpid and diaphanous in the finely drawn textures of Debussy's evocation of the sea, sparkling brightly in a marvelous "Don Juan," blazing to fiery life in a terrifying "March to the Scaffold" and "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath" in the Berlioz. Warm amber light kept rising from the cellos. The woodwinds sent out strange, arresting pulses."

Read all of A symphony fantastique at Davies.

Mariss Jansons and The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra visit the Celebrity Series and Symphony Hall Friday evening at 8pm. Tickets are still available.

Eichler reviews Hamelin

The Globe's Jeremy Eichler reviewed Saturday's Celebrity Series debut concert by pianist Marc-Andre Hamelin for Tuesday's Boston Globe:

"At one point in his recital on Saturday night in Jordan Hall,
Marc-André Hamelin glanced down at the Steinway grand piano with what
appeared to be a look of sympathy. It was as if to say he didn't really
enjoy giving the instrument such a bruising. Well, OK, maybe just a
little."

Read the complete review.

Getting specific on Gershwin

Time to let you all in on just which George Gershwin gems Rob Kapilow will be dissecting this Saturday evening in the next What Makes It Great? performance, The Songs of George Gershwin:

“I Got Rhythm” from Girl Crazy, 1930
“They Can’t Take That Away from Me” from Shall We Dance, 1937
“Someone to Watch Over Me”  from Oh, Kay! 1926
“Love is Sweeping the Country”  from Of Thee I Sing, 1931

"Girl Crazy"? Wasn't that an Elvis movie...?

David Weininger's Globe preview of Hamelin

David Weininger of The Boston Globe had a chat with pianist - and now Boston resident - Marc-Andre Hamelin. Here is Weininger's column from Friday's Globe, with apologies for the delay.

Jeremy Eichler attended for the Globe. I will post his review when it appears.