On 4th October, the Philadelphia Orchestra opened the Carnegie Hall season with an all 20th-century American program featuring George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein.
The Philadelphia Orchestra presented an exciting and fresh performance of Swan Lake selections and Bluebeard's Castle, led by its energetic music director Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
Nezet-Seguin and his Philadelphians convey the brilliance and sophistication of France's undisputed "golden age" of classical music with works by six Parisian composers.
In the spirit of Hallowe'en, Mahler’s Second Symphony focuses on the idea of Zombification; however, any mention of eating brains didn’t pass Mahler’s final edits.
The Philadelphia Orchestra doesn’t look much different from any other orchestra, but their most recent program at Carnegie Hall with conductor Yannick Nézet-Séguin produced at times unbelievable sounds.
The Philadelphia Orchestra was visibly enjoying their evening at Carnegie Hall with Sir Simon Rattle, their frequent guest conductor who nearly became their music director. In a program of early modern classics and a perennial Beethoven favorite, energy and spirits were high and in good supply.
Poor Ravel. He was expelled from the Conservatoire; he was consistently rejected for the Prix de Rome; he never married. Along with his contemporaries Stravinsky, Debussy and Satie, he made enormous strides in 20th-century music, but is unfortunately remembered best (when at all) for the plodding fifteen minutes of his 1928 composition Boléro.
In an interview with Charlie Rose a couple of years ago, Sir Simon Rattle made the startling comment that conductors only become “competent” after they turn 60.
The Philadelphia Orchestra was at Carnegie Hall this weekend, led by Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit and joined by pianist Maria João Pires, to perform works by Glinka, Chopin, and Ravel. After this season, American audiences will presumably be seeing less of Mr.
For its concert on Sunday afternoon, the Philadelphia Orchestra under Simon Rattle performed symphonic works which, the programme notes claimed, “invite us to think about the possibilities of hidden musical meaning”.Over the years, speculation has been rife on the famous F-A-F motif of the opening chords on woodwinds in the first movement of Brahms’ Symphony no.
The Philadelphia Orchestra may be in the news more often for its financial difficulties than for its music-making, but even a fleeting listen to one of their concerts demonstrates that the ensemble remains one of America’s gems.
When a guest conductor arrives for a few concerts with an orchestra, he or she doesn’t have very much time to shape his or her interpretation. On some occasions the orchestra successfully adopts the visitor’s style; on others they just play like they always do.
How gratifying that James Conlon briefly introduced the rationale for this Philadelphia Orchestra concert, which turned out to be entirely divorced from the nostalgic ‘Memories of Prague’ that its title suggested. Instead, what I had presumed to be coincidental key signatures were in fact the link: an exploration of D minor (with a side of D major).
Following the Philadelphia Orchestra’s stellar performance at last night’s Prom, Chief Conductor Charles Dutoit presented a second violinist with a bouquet of flowers. This unusual gesture, he explained, was a fond farewell to a man who has played in the orchestra for 50 years. During the past half-century, that violinist must have played last night’s pieces many times.
When recession strikes, Stravinsky’s your man! Nothing is wasted and everything is convertible. The fact that his world and style had changed beyond recognition between beginning his opera, Le Chant du Rossignol in 1908 and finishing it in 1914 – three epoch-changing ballets later – did not seem to faze him.
Dans un programme 100% « Allemagne romantique », le chef québécois et l'orchestre américain délivrent une prestation de référence. Au piano, Hélène Grimaud impressionne mais ne convainc pas totalement.
