featuring Daniil Trifonov, under Sir Antonio Pappano November has been a big month for concerts already, even after I declined to go to a few. There were some personnel shuffles with the St. Petersburg Philharmonic, so I refunded that ticket, … Continue reading Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
performed by the New Philharmonia Orchestra under Riccardo Muti, or in a superb recording by the Oslo Philharmonic under Mariss Jansons (cover image by Serge Kutuzov) It’s been a while since we’ve seen any Tchaikovsky (a little over a year) and even … Continue reading Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 2 in Cm, op. 17 ‘Little Russian’
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
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
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
performed by Sviatoslav Richter History does funny things to music. In the more famous cases (as we shall shortly see why), the world nearly forgot about something, or ignored it, or derided it, and it was only later generations or geniuses who … Continue reading Tchaikovsky Grand Piano Sonata in G, op. 37
performed by Đặng Thái Sơn or below by Vladimir Ashkenazy And here he is! Like I mentioned in the article on his first quartet over the weekend, it’s been nearly a whole year since we’ve touched on anything of one of the most … Continue reading Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, op. 37a
performed by the Borodin Quartet …Tolstoy, sitting next to me and listening to the Andante of my First Quartet, burst into tears… The composer, from here or here Hello, old friend! It’s been a while since we did anything Tchaikovsky…. … Continue reading Tchaikovsky String Quartet No. 1 in D, op. 11
Who doesn’t love chamber music? I’m not much for midweek concerts, because they usually involve first running home to care quickly for a dog, then rushing to a concert, then rushing home to get ready for work the next day, … Continue reading TSO’s Playful Music Adventure
This concert didn’t have a swanky title. But (either because of these upcoming TSO concerts or not, I can’t recall) I’ve recently been a bit more curious about Enescu, Martinu, and others. One of the defining characteristics, I feel, of … Continue reading TSO’s Berezovsky & Varga
It was another one of those two-night concert specials, a foreign ensemble coming to Taipei, but this time one I should have had a much greater chance hearing in my home country: the Chicago Symphony Orchestra with Riccardo Muti. The Chicago Symphony … Continue reading Concert Review: Chicago Symphony in Taipei
Who doesn’t love a good premiere? It’s historical. I must say Maestro Lindberg is an outstandingly enthusiastic person, and I bought my ticket for this concert many months ago when they were on sale. The Taipei Symphony has been consistently … Continue reading TSO: Christian Lindberg’s Symphonic Postcard
This is only my third opera, but after my incredibly awesome experience with Fidelio back in the summer, I was eager to revisit the National Theatre. This time, we enjoyed Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, the Taiwanese premiere, with the never-ceasing-to-impress Taipei Symphony Orchestra and lots of other … Continue reading Opera Review: Eugene Onegin
How quickly things happen. Just a few weeks ago, I was able to enjoy my first two-night concert set ever, and who better to enjoy it with than the Vienna Philharmonic? I’d gone to separate concerts back-to-back before, but never the … Continue reading Concert Review: The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra
performed by the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Bernard Haitink “although it is in many ways very immature, yet fundamentally it has more substance and is better than any of my other more mature works.” So, here we are at arguably … Continue reading Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 1, op. 13, ‘Winter Dreams’
The actual music portion. Part one yesterday I suppose was more like a long preface or lead-in to the two concerts that will go down in my books as the most anticipated things I’ve ever attended. But yesterday, all we talked … Continue reading Concert Review: Vienna Philharmonic in Taipei- Part 2
The 2015 NTNUSO Concert: Phenomenon So, this is one of those concerts you go to for fun. I had the same feelings about a concert last month with the Taipei Symphony, and was blown away. The last concert we reviewed (last week) was the Taipei Symphony’s performance of Mahler 3 under Maestro Eliahu Inbal. This concert was the day after that. I was invited a few days ahead of time to go with a friend at the university who had tickets. I didn’t know anything on the program, but it was a nice opportunity to go, so I certainly didn’t … Continue reading Concert Review: 2015師大音樂系交響樂團公演: Phenomenon
or the 2014 concert of the music department of the best music school in Taiwan. I have kind of a tenuous relationship with this university. It’s the one that a lot of foreigners attend to study Chinese when they move here, but their music department is generally regarded as the best in the country. I took piano lessons for a few years with a frighteningly talented and very friendly student at this university, and have been able to meet and stay in touch with a few others; it’s also like a block away from my office and makes me feel … Continue reading Concert Review: 2014師大音樂系交響樂團公演
Taipei Symphony Orchestra under Gilbert Varga Anna Vinnitskaya, piano November 15, 2014 I shamefully have waited over a month to get around to writing some little bit about this performance. It’s a bit of a break from our Germanic thing we’ve been on for a while, and now it’s been so long that I may not be able to do it justice, but it must be written! It was not at the National Concert Hall, where most performances take place, but was down the road a bit at another venue. I’ve attended there before, and while it doesn’t have the … Continue reading Concert Review: TSO’s Passion for Tchaikovsky
Fugue for Thought 