ENGLISH Christmas music began in 1918. That may be a slight exaggeration to be found in a programme note by John Allison in a new anthology called in Terra Pax, but it is largely true. In medieval times, carols were supplanted by chant, and Cromwell banned them altogether – indeed, even Christmas was outlawed at one time by Parliamentary decree. Festivity was out. Carols survived like folk music...
Very sad to learn that another of our greatest singing actresses, Elisabeth Soderstrom, has followed Behrens to the grave. She had more of an innings than I realised, reaching the relatively grand age of 82, and yet it seems like only yesterday I caught some of her later performances. I came to Strauss's marital semi-comedy Intermezzo through hearing her termagent Christine Storch (aka Pauline Strauss)...
ichfield Sinfonia have organised a varied programme for their Autumn concert at the city’s Guildhall. Their November 29 performance will see music including Weber Oberon Overture and Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 . The concert will feature Cannock-born guest soloist Andrew Smith who is currently studying at Birmingham Conservatoire playing Stamitz Flute Concerto in G op 29. The performance starts [...]...
The new Curtis Opera Theatre production of Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress is a test of sorts. How much are you willing to endure for love of this opera? What aspects mean the most to you? Music? Words? Characters?
Ohmigosh! I’ve been proclaiming loud and long about the lamentable practice of celebrating Christmas long before even Thanksgiving Day. About how we skip from Labor Day to Christmas without a by-your-leave for the wonderful holiday when we take a moment to give thanks for all our blessings. But. . . gulp. . . it turns out I am an offender! My turkey is not even thawed in the fridge and I’m...
Stockholm - Swedish opera singer Elisabeth Soederstroem, 82, died Friday in Stockholm from the effects of a stroke, her husband Sverker Olow said. The soprano made her debut in 1947 in a Mozart opera and in the decades that followed performed in prod...
Dawn on the North Sea coast of Suffolk at Aldeburgh, where Britten lived nearly the last three decades of his life by Ken Back when we took our original Sneak peek into the sound world of Benjamin Britten , when I was dependent on YouTube scavengings for musical examples, I was relieved to have Leonard Bernstein's rather tired DG recording of the mesmerizing "Dawn" interlude from Peter Grimes...
Swedish soprano whose perceptive singing and vivid acting made her a great heroine in operas by Tchaikovsky, Richard Strauss and Janacek One of the most perceptive and admired sopranos of the postwar era, Elisabeth Söderström, who has died aged 82, had a lengthy career that carried on into the 1990s, when she was well into her 60s. In everything she attempted, her vibrantly beautiful singing...
YouTube via paulshillitomusic "Stravinsky - The Rite of Spring - Introduction. Done in my Classitronic style, Classitronic is what I call electronic classical music with my style being heavily influenced by Isao Tomita. This is the first part of the classic Stravinsky opera The Rite of Spring which caused a near riot when it was premiered in Paris on May 29th 1913. The rest of this work is to...
Antonio Ghislanzoni (libretto), based on a French scenario by Auguste Mariette, Giuseppe Verdi (composer) Aida / the production I saw was the Metropolitan Opera live HD, in encore on Thursday, November 12, 2009 One of the aspects of Aida that interviewer, singer Renée Fleming suggested several times in the intermissions of Verdi's great opera was that, despite the huge size of the cast, except...
Continuing what I started in my last post. 3, Recent history, art and music. Music. Atonal composers started dominating composition -- in prestige, grant-worthiness, faculty hiring, and, retrospectively, in the way classical music history has been written -- sometime in...
For some of us, the working week is now nearly upon us and time to reflect on the simple pleasures in life. A few of mine for starters, what are your simple pleasures? 1)Finding a spare tenner in the zip compartment of wallet 2)Pint of good Tetleys or any good bitter, in traditional pub in front of a log fire and a fine juke box 3)Leaving a station for the destination of your choice 4)Jazz or Classical...
An interesting list of noughties tunes from the US, militant cyclists and two moving parent-child tales In the week that the NME announced its Top 50 Albums of the Noughties , NPR (National Public Radio) in America produced its list of The 50 Most Important Recordings of the Decade . For list-lovers it's a pleasure to compare the two. In saying "recordings" NPR has allowed itself single...
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