A century on from its birth, one of Switzerland’s leading orchestras finally makes its Proms debut in a scintillating programme of French and Russian music.
Just as Igor Stravinsky’s Petrushka and Le Sacre du Printemps opened up new musical horizons for dance at the start of the 20th century, Ballett Zürich’s Stravinsky evening sees two leading modern choreographers revive these works.
The London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vladimir Jurowski and the soloist Ray Chen offer the next instalment in a series showcasing the works of Stravinsky and their historical influences.
After a shaky start with Metamorphosen, the Oslo Philharmonic embodies the evening's theme of transformation by ending on a stonker of a Petruskha, via the perenially fabulous Lise Davidsen.
A globetrotting programme from Dutoit and the RPO that whisked us from Rome's fountains to St Petersburg's Shrovetide Fair via Bohemia's woods and fields.
Rising superstar Gustavo Dudamel led mixed interpretations of two of Stravinky's best-loved scores; consistently good orchestral playing was augmented by occasional glimpses of brilliance.
Two landmark scores from the repertory of the Ballets Russes sandwiched Thursday night’s concert at Symphony Hall: Debussy’s Jeux and Stravinsky’s Petrushka (in its original 1913 version).
The program included Bartók's third Piano Concerto and Stravinsky's Pétrouchka, with Sibelius' Oceanides rounding out a program that combined intellect with theatricality.
Ivo Pogorelich returns to Istanbul with an utterly arduous programme. Mr Pogorelić may have his adversaries and his admirers, but this was a triumphant evening for piano music.
The influence of words and storytelling is apparent from Mr Adams’ dense score to Scheherazade.2, which broods throughout with cinematic yet unpredictable intensity.
A UK première, movements from a rarely performed Prokofiev ballet by Prokofiev and a revitalising performance of Petrushka demonstrates the LPO's bold programming.
For their final season concert, Morlot leads the Seattle Symphony in an ambitious programme of all three of Stravinsky's pre-WWI scores for the Ballets Russes.
Trekking through the bitter cold, devoted concert-goers made their way to the Walter Reade Theater on Sunday morning to see husband-wife piano duo Alessio Bax and Lucille Chung perform an installment of Lincoln Center’s Sunday Morning Coffee Concerts.
“Gergiev, your silence is killing Russian gays!” Activists from Queer Nation had disrupted opening night at the Metropolitan Opera three weeks ago, and with demonstrations outside it was almost inevitable that the same protests would accompany the start of the Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra’s three-concert stay at Carnegie Hall.
Not for Josep Pons is the neat, crystalline programming of Oliver Knussen or similar: this sprawling Proms debut by the Catalan conductor encompassed a perplexing variety of music, never really looking like it would form much of a coherent whole.
Rudolf Nureyev was born in 1938 and died in 1993, making 2013 the 75th anniversary of his birth and the 20th of his death. English National Ballet have cause to be deeply grateful to Nureyev: he gave them (in their previous incarnation as London Festival Ballet) their popular Romeo and Juliet, and lent his box-office appeal as a principal dancer to numerous other productions.
Unusual scenes at the New York Philharmonic this past weekend: a ballerina flouncing across the stage; conductor Alan Gilbert lugging a life-size puppet down the aisle amid rows of laughing, bewildered audience members; black-and-white video projections of the orchestra musicians sipping tea.
György Ligeti’s Concert Românesc was banned by the Soviet government for the crime of getting too fancy with colouring on dominant chords. Though by no means overly dissonant, especially as compared to Ligeti’s later works, the last few minutes of this work do become ever so slightly crunchy.
There’s something heartwarming in stories of friends’ differences resolved. Hanuš Wihan had requested a cello concerto of Dvořák, who declined on the grounds that, although a fine orchestral instrument, the cello was not suited to the solo spotlight. The change of heart, occasioned by Victor Herbert’s Second Cello Concerto, is to all our benefits.
Snow is falling on the stage as the Fabulous Beast Dance Theatre presents a quite ambitious programme reworking two masterpieces of the ballet tradition: The Rite of Spring and Perushka.
Whilst a celebratory centenary performance of Stravinsky’s masterful The Rite of Spring has already been planned next month on the very evening of the work’s première, another performance of the work has recently captured the imagination of Paris’ music and dance aficionados: Stravinsky en mode hip hop (“Stravinsky, hip-hop style”).
The Cleveland Orchestra was in top form at its Severance Hall concert on Thursday, under the direction of Giancarlo Guerrero, with the orchestra’s concertmaster William Preucil as soloist in the world première of Stephen Paulus’ Violin Concerto no. 3. Mr. Guerrero is the Music Director of the Nashville Symphony and is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra Miami (the orchestra’s annual multi-week winter residence in Miami, Florida). As such, Mr. Guerrero works with the orchestra regularly, and he seemed to have more rapport with the musicians than most of the one-week guests who appear. Indeed, this was the most dynamic performance that the group has given so far this season, full of passion, but sensitive to the details of the music.
The name of last Tuesday’s Hollywood Bowl concert was “Three Russian Masters.” That’s Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Shostakovich, whose music made up the program that night, by the way. But it wouldn’t be a stretch to say that the audience got to hear a fourth Russian master: pianist Denis Matsuev. The first half of the program was centered around him. Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto no.
The Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal and Jean-Marie Zeitouni crafted an intriguing program tonight with orchestral music by four great masters of rhythm: Bartók, Ravel, Boulez and Stravinsky. The result of this brilliant selection of works was a concert as unique and colorful as the works it featured.
Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu made a big impression in his début with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra in a colorful program of Ravel, Chopin, and Stravinsky – Le Tombeau de Couperin , the Piano Concerto no. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21, and Petrushka, respectively.
Esa-Pekka Salonen is an impressive conductor to watch. His movement is fluid, elegant and simple, yet he achieves a wide range of different gestures: I'm not an orchestral musician but I imagine that it would be very easy to follow his intent.
Tonight’s concert at the Concertgebouw started with the Romance from Shostakovich’s film score The Gadfly, as a tribute to the conductor Yakov Kreizberg, who sadly passed away last March. A popular piece with violinists, the Romance is a beautifully melodic work, perhaps one of Shostakovich’s most popular ones.
23-year-old Georgian pianist and current BBC Radio 3 New Generation artist performed a demanding solo recital to a packed Wigmore Hall. She opened with a thoughtful account of the Fantasy by Schumann (who celebrates his 200th birthday this year). This was by far the most engaging performance in the recital, often contemplative and with a very individual response to the music.
Lundi 20 juillet se tenait au Royal Albert Hall le “Prom 5”. Au programme : une symphonie de Haydn, une création de HK Gruber et le ballet Petrouchka de Stravinsky, joués par le BBC Philharmonic et le percussionniste Colin Currie placés sous la baguette de John Storgårds. Une soirée agréable, mais pas incroyable.
L’ONCT proposait une soirée entièrement dédiée à la musique russe du début du XXème siècle. Si le public de la Halle est désormais habitué des grands noms des compositeurs de l’Europe centrale et de l’Est, le programme de ce soir promettait des découvertes certaines.
