Phillip Nones studied piano from age six, also playing percussion in educational and civic groups before moving to a rural area of the USA in 1990, where performance opportunities were few. Recently he has started performing again, participating in “side-by-side” orchestra performances and playing percussion in the World Doctors' Orchestra. His personal collection of music includes over 5,000 classical albums in all formats (CDs, LPs, 78s), plus downloads. In his professional life, he heads up a marketing communications firm in the state of Maryland. He blogs about the French composer Florent Schmitt here.
Two symphonies composed in 1842 were an interesting programming premise but the execution was something of a letdown, with musical subtlety in short supply.
The Royal Scottish National Orchestra proves that old warhorses can still sound fresh when played with a keen ear for color and attention to the little interpretive details.
The Roussel Bacchus et Ariane was the standout performance in a trio of French orchestral works presented by Alan Gilbert and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.
Darrell Ang and members of the Singapore Symphony deliver a crystalline Mother Goose Suite and a high-spirited, straight-from-the-orchestra-pit Ibert Divertissement.
JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic take an exotic journey into the orientalist world of Florent Schmitt, while Konrad Skolarski thrills in Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto.
