Skip to content

Fugue for Thought

an amateur does classical music

  • Blog
  • Listening Guides
    • Short and Sweet
    • Tell Me a Story
    • Pretty, Please
    • Challenge Me
    • Epic
    • The Gems
    • Something Different
  • Series
    • The Old Series
    • String Quartet Series (SQS)
    • Editor’s Choice
    • French Symphony
    • Finnish Symphony
    • American Symphony
    • The English Symphony
    • The Horn
    • Danish December
    • Swedish Series 2016
  • Concerts
  • Podcast
  • Resources
    • Influential People
    • Intro to Serialism
  • Miscellany
  • About/Contact

Category: concert review

concert reviewLeave a comment

Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Taiwan

November 17, 2017November 17, 2017 Fugue for Thought

with Leonidas Kavakos under Herbert Blomstedt Well, add one more to the list. Yet another world-class orchestra comes through Taipei, with a world-class conductor and soloist. I’ll be honest. When I heard about this concert many months ago, my first … Continue reading Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in Taiwan

concert reviewLeave a comment

Thomas Hampson in Taiwan

November 10, 2017November 10, 2017 Fugue for Thought

with the NSO under Kahchun Wong It’s all Mahler tonight. Another performance of Mahler’s first. But that wasn’t the only first on the program. The terribly charming, famous, and very talented Thomas Hampson made his very first visit to our … Continue reading Thomas Hampson in Taiwan

concert reviewLeave a comment

TSO’s Pre-Tour Concert

October 27, 2017October 27, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring violinist Paul Huang (黃俊文) It’s been a little while since I’d seen the TSO. I wasn’t able to attend the all-Sibelius concert with Okko Kamu, unfortunately, but Varga was back in town tonight. Not for long, though. As the … Continue reading TSO’s Pre-Tour Concert

concert review, operaLeave a comment

NSO’s Die Walküre

October 14, 2017October 14, 2017 Fugue for Thought

Featuring: Taiwan’s 國家交響樂團 (NSO) Wotan- Jukka Rasilainen Fricka- Jamie Barton Hunding- Andrea Silvestrelli Sieglinde- Anja Kampe Siegmund- Simon O’Neill Brünnhilde- Jennifer Wilson (and more) Carlus Padrissa, Esteban Muñoz, Roland Olbeter, Chu Uroz, and the crew of La Fura dels Baus … Continue reading NSO’s Die Walküre

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s Poem of Ecstasy

September 23, 2017September 23, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Jan Vogler Programming is so important. And our NSO is sounding incredible this season. Some of you likely enjoyed, depending on your generation, making mixtapes, burning mixes on CD, or creating playlists to distribute or enjoy via various media … Continue reading NSO’s Poem of Ecstasy

concert review2 Comments

Mahler’s Eighth in Taipei

September 16, 2017September 16, 2017 Fugue for Thought

performed by the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and National Taiwan Symphony Orchestra under Lan Shui, with: Emma Bell, soprano 左涵瀛 (Hanying Tso), soprano 黃莉錦 (Li-Chin Huang), soprano Charlotte Hellekant, alto 陳珮琪 (Pei-Chi Chen), alto Barry Banks, tenor 巫白玉璽 (Wu Bai-Yu-Hsi), baritone … Continue reading Mahler’s Eighth in Taipei

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s 2017 Season Opener

September 15, 2017September 15, 2017 Fugue for Thought

What is Mozart’s music if not naked, pure, exposed, unadulterated, magnificent beauty? A few weeks ago, we had the TSO’s season opener with accomplished pianist Kirill Gerstein making his first appearance in Taiwan, and it was a fine one. The NSO’s … Continue reading NSO’s 2017 Season Opener

concert reviewLeave a comment

Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Taipei

September 10, 2017September 10, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Igor Levit “If you’re ever in that part of town, you should try…” It’s a small world, but it isn’t that small. You probably won’t accidentally find yourself in Taipei anytime soon, but if you were to, you might learn that … Continue reading Bayerisches Staatsorchester in Taipei

concert review2 Comments

TSO’s Season Opening Concert

August 26, 2017August 26, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Kirill Gerstein Welcome back, everyone! I met a certain fellow concertgoer (and at least occasional reader) formally for the first time this evening while we stood in line to meet Gerstein and Maestro Varga. The gentleman, who I see … Continue reading TSO’s Season Opening Concert

concert review, operaLeave a comment

TSO’s Der Mond

August 4, 2017August 4, 2017 Fugue for Thought

The TSO continues their presentation of Carl Orff’s operatic works, which began with last year’s performance of Die Kluge in their old stomping grounds the Zhong Shan Hall. That was the primary reason I didn’t go… But tonight we got Der Mond, a … Continue reading TSO’s Der Mond

20th Century Opera, concert review, Music, opera1 Comment

NSO’s Il Trittico

July 21, 2017July 22, 2017 Fugue for Thought

performed by Taiwan’s 國家交響樂團 a.k.a. National Symphony Orchestra a.k.a. Taiwan Philharmonic, or below in a trailer for the work from The Royal Opera This is a concert (opera) review, and less so a discussion of the opera itself, but I’m … Continue reading NSO’s Il Trittico

concert reviewLeave a comment

NTSO: Gil Shaham and Lan Shui

July 1, 2017July 1, 2017 Fugue for Thought

Lan Shui has featured in here and there in my experiences with concerts. He’s a respected conductor, and conducted what is currently the only live performance I’ve heard of Mahler’s magnificent second symphony (but that will change next year, as … Continue reading NTSO: Gil Shaham and Lan Shui

concert review1 Comment

TSO & Fazıl Say

June 25, 2017June 25, 2017 Fugue for Thought

I feel like we’ve been waiting for ages for this concert. And what a concert it was. Fazıl Say seems to be everywhere lately, literally and figuratively. He’s performing all over Europe, having recently played Beethoven’s Emperor concerto somewhere in Turkey, I … Continue reading TSO & Fazıl Say

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s Trio Cantabile

June 18, 2017June 18, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Wen-Sinn Yang (楊文信 ), cello; May-Lin Ju (朱玫玲), clarinet; Chaio-Han Liao (廖皎含), piano   Oh, how rarely we have local, affordable chamber music. The vast majority of the string quartet concerts we see are all from foreign ensembles, some … Continue reading NSO’s Trio Cantabile

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s Bruckner 7

June 16, 2017June 16, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Wen-Sinn Yang, cello The NSO finished their concert season two years ago, in the spring of 2015, with Bruckner’s eighth symphony, a monumental work with which I was unfortunately not familiar enough to appreciate in full at the time. … Continue reading NSO’s Bruckner 7

concert review1 Comment

Buchbinder plays Beethoven

June 10, 2017June 10, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Rudolf Buchbinder and the Taipei Symphony Orchestra The short version of the story is that I had high expectations for this event, and I was still blown away. Magnificently wonderful. About three months ago, I was able to hear all … Continue reading Buchbinder plays Beethoven

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s Extreme Classical

June 9, 2017June 10, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Sabine Meyer and Michael Sanderling I skipped the NSO concert last week. We were supposed to have the Labèque sisters come to perform Glass’s double concerto for two pianos, but something happened and the program got changed. While the … Continue reading NSO’s Extreme Classical

concert review2 Comments

TSO’s Don Quixote

May 27, 2017May 27, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring cellist Pablo Ferrández and conductor Robert Trevino It’s been quite some time since I’ve paid the Taipei Symphony a visit, in fact more than four months. They spent a little time traveling down south for some concerts, and had one or two … Continue reading TSO’s Don Quixote

concert reviewLeave a comment

NSO’s French Masterpieces

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Pascal Rophé, guest conductor; Sharon Bezaly, flute; Taipei Philharmonic Chorus I’m not sure why Nielsen’s flute concerto was included in an otherwise decidedly French program. A Danish composer spent some time in Germany and Austria and wrote a concerto … Continue reading NSO’s French Masterpieces

concert reviewLeave a comment

Esa-Pekka Salonen & Philharmonia Orchestra

May 11, 2017May 12, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Yu-Chien Benny Tseng (曾宇謙), violin After a very hot day in Taipei and a train ride back down to the new(ish) opera house, which I haven’t visited for almost exactly four months, I find myself yet again in one of … Continue reading Esa-Pekka Salonen & Philharmonia Orchestra

concert reviewLeave a comment

Blacher & NSO

May 5, 2017May 5, 2017 Fugue for Thought

featuring Kolja Blacher (subtitled ‘The Arts of Play & Lead’) Beethoven, Brahms, Britten and Blacher. But not in that order. That ‘Play and Lead’ title refers exactly to what made this concert so special, the almost unbelievable feat that Blacher … Continue reading Blacher & NSO

Posts navigation

Older posts
Newer posts

FYI

© 2019 fugueforthought

Follow Fugue for Thought on WordPress.com
Website Powered by WordPress.com.
Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×