Tag: 09.26.00

A music critic who wrote about the “dysfunctionality” of the modern symphony orchestra hears plenty of dissent from readers. – National Post (Canada)

Carnegie Hall spends the weekend paying tribute to Isaac Stern, the violinist who became one of the most powerful movers in the music world. – New York Times

The BBC Symphony Orchestra is quintessentially English. So how does Leonard Slatkin, renowned for championing American music, fit in as BBC’s new music director? – The Telegraph (UK)

Evgeny Kissin is acclaimed as one of the best modern pianists. Yet one critic notes an alarming trend in his playing: “At the louder and more extroverted end of the dynamic spectrum, though, Kissin’s taste for thunderous banging is growing ever more pronounced. Without gradations or subtlety, he will suddenly begin to pound away – sometimes in midphrase, sometimes at sectional transitions that are then marked all too starkly. The result is a maddening duality, a kind of sonic whiplash that keeps listeners shuttling uncomfortably back and forth between dynamic extremes.” – San Francisco Chronicle

“What one heard was a combination of generalized intensity, interpretive ardor and an exceptional technique. Nevertheless, the search for that elusive quality called poetry continues in Kissin’s career. You came away admiring a succession of problems variously solved, rather than gleaning any notable insights into the works performed.” – San Francisco Examiner

A male percussionist/composer with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra has a thing for dressing up in drag. When he appeared onstage for a concert dressed as a women, orchestra management “read him the riot act.” But the act turned into a gig writing a piece for the orchestra for percussionist-in-drag. – Sydney Morning Herald