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
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
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
featuring Gábor Boldoczki, trumpet; Oleg Caetani, guest conductor or The Concert Formerly Known as ‘Who Is Afraid of Shostakovich?’ It’s a goal of some devoted (or just geeky) concertgoers to ‘collect them all’, to attend live performances of all symphonies from … Continue reading NSO’s From Schubert to Shostakovich
featuring Carl St. Clair, conductor; Albrecht Mayer, oboe Yes. It’s called that for the reason that you think it is. But we’ll get there. It’s been more than a month since I’ve been in the concert hall, and that’s a … Continue reading NSO’s Eroica
featuring Ray Chen More Russian music. Another violin concerto. But this time, it’s goodbye to the NSO, temporarily anyway. They’re off to Europe this weekend, and before they go jet-setting, they gave us a preview of some of the pieces … Continue reading NSO’s Pre-tour Concert
featuring 劉宜欣 (Cindy Liu), horn; 王佩瑤, piano; 李宜錦, violin, all members of the NSO So it’s actually not the NSO, but it is three of their members, in a rare gem of a chamber concert, and seriously what timing! You’ll see what I mean soon, … Continue reading NSO’s A Mellow Walk in Time
Welcome back, everyone, to another round of concert reviews, with stuff I always forget to mention, people who don’t know how to behave themselves in public, stunning, stellar music, a later bedtime than I usually have, and the overwhelming feeling … Continue reading NSO: Blazing Masterpieces
Well, hello folks. It’s been quite sometime since we did any of this concert talk, something like six weeks, actually, and what an interesting six weeks it has been. It’s quite rare to go six weeks mid-season without a concert of any kind. … Continue reading NSO’s Russian Riches
Wow. A very interesting, very powerful evening this was, and one of the greatest moments the NSO has brought us in the years that I’ve been a patron, with wonderful programming. Brett Dean, Bartok, and Shostakovich. Please read. This was … Continue reading NSO’s Hero Reborn
featuring 楊文信 (Wen-Sinn Yang), cello Welcome back, NSO! Our very own National Symphony Orchestra recently returned from their trip abroad, their first concert visit to America, as well as a concert in Vancouver. They got newspaper spots, filled Western concert … Continue reading NSO’s Cello & Symphony
Old familiar tunes. There are some upcoming articles in which I soapbox a bit on just listening to new music. You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on a crazy music collection with tons of albums and fancy equipment; just dabble in classical … Continue reading NSO’s Symphonie Fantastique
Beethoven’s ninth. Everyone knows it. Or they think they do. ‘Ode to Joy’ has been used and reused in everything from church hymns to TV commercials, but do you know the whole thing, its ins and outs, and what it … Continue reading NSO: The Immortal 9th
Mahler, Mahler, Mahler! Performances of Mahler symphonies aren’t rare, nowadays, by any stretch of the imagination, but locally, in one area, it may not be so often to be able to walk in on a performance of such a mammoth work as Mahler’s … Continue reading NSO’s Titan Arise
featuring Freddy Kempf, conducted by 張尹芳 (Zhang Yin Fang) Midweek concerts are always a bit tougher to get around to, especially in rainy weather, and tonight’s turnout showed it. As a heavy-duty subscriber to the NSO, I get some perks, … Continue reading NSO’s Concerto for Orchestra
Is there any other? with Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra (國家交響樂團) under Maestro Shao-Chia Lü (呂紹嘉), stage director Carlus Padrissa, a co-production of Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, with full credits shown below This performance on … Continue reading Wagner’s Das Rheingold
30th Anniversary Season Opener, featuring Leonidas Kavakos Well, I’m a bit late in coming with this. The concert was almost a week ago, and came at the end of an extremely long day (and weekend, involving a national holiday, two typhoons, a … Continue reading NSO’s A Hero’s Life
The salon concert is here! I had the privilege of attending last year, and as usual, it was a highly-anticipated event. It’s the NSO’s 30th anniversary this coming season, and we had the privilege of enjoying comments and thoughts from … Continue reading NSO’s 2016/17 Salon Concert
as below: The end. Opera is one of the best things ever. And it’s something we don’t get nearly enough of here in Taipei. Unfortunately, we’ll likely be getting even less of it now that the opera house, built in … Continue reading Opera: Verdi’s Otello
We’re coming up on the end of the concert season. I attended my last TSO show last week, and there are only two more left in this season from the NSO, so this began the countdown of the final three. … Continue reading NSO’s The Planets
Could it, should it, be the job of every conductor and every orchestra with every concert to convince their audience that the piece being performed is the greatest symphony or concerto or whatever ever written? I’d say perhaps so. And … Continue reading NSO’s Two Great Seconds
Fugue for Thought 