Ionarts

For Your Consideration: 'A Separation'

2012-02-16T13:08:00.000-05:00

Iran, of course, is regularly in the headlines, but how much do you know about Iran and its people? One gets a profound glimpse in the latest film by director Asghar Farhadi, A Separation, again using his own screenplay. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Tehran, the film follows the struggles of a couple, Simin and Nader, who are trying to work out the details of their divorce. The wife wants

Valentine from the Leipzig Quartet

2012-02-15T23:37:00.000-05:00

The Leipzig String Quartet, founded by principal musicians of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, is a group to hear. Especially when they are presented, as they were on Tuesday night's Concordia D.C. series at the United Church in Foggy Bottom, in a free concert. The organizers, working with the German Embassy, are to be commended for inviting the group and for providing drinks at intermission,

Leif Ove Andsnes

2012-02-14T10:49:00.000-05:00

Charles T. Downey, Leif Ove Andsnes at Strathmore: Pianist brings poetry, introspection Washington Post, February 14, 2012 Haydn, Piano Sonatas, Leif Ove Andsnes Chopin, Sonatas / Etudes / Mazurkas, Leif Ove Andsnes Leif Ove Andsnes will celebrate the 25th anniversary of his recital debut next month in Oslo, and this distinctive Norwegian pianist has made periodic visits to Washington for

For Your Consideration: 'A Dangerous Method' and 'Shame'

2012-02-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

Now more than ever, most of the good work in cinema is ignored by the Academy in its award nominations. One critic's list of the top twenty movies of 2011 has almost nothing nominated for the Oscars. My immediate reaction to the nomination list was that some of the movies that got nods for Best Picture this year have no business being there: The Help, Midnight in Paris, and War Horse are the most

Ionarts-at-Large: LESS Cowbell!

2012-02-13T09:30:00.005-05:00

Saturday, September 11th, I strategically attended the third performance of the Munich Philharmonic in Mahler’s Sixth Symphony under Kent Nagano—in the usually justified hope that the orchestra would be at its best. “Maybe even play together”, as one player cheekily suggested beforehand. By some accounts it may well have been the best performance, but still it was musically and interpretively

In Brief: Cold Snap Edition

2012-02-12T12:45:00.000-05:00

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond. L'Arpeggiata, dir. Christina Pluhar, Los Pajaros Perdidos, with P. Jaroussky Paul McCreesh directs the Gabrieli Consort in a performance of Haydn's The Seasons, with soprano Christiane Karg, tenor Allan Clayton, and bass-baritone Christopher Purves, from the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées. [France Musique] The

From Inside Shostakovich to God's Doorstep in Under Two Hours

2012-02-12T03:01:00.004-05:00

Many thanks to Robert R. Reilly for this review from the Kennedy Center.On Friday evening, the National Symphony Orchestra under Christoph Eschenbach repeated its program of Shostakovich’s Violin Concerto No. 1 and the Bruckner Ninth Symphony. The evening served to underline the magnitude of the gift that Eschenbach has brought to Washington, and of the fine artistry of violinist Nadja

Virginia Opera Does It Again

2012-02-11T13:59:00.002-05:00

La Princesse leads Cégeste to the underworld -- Jonathan Blalock (Cégeste) and Heather Buck (La Princesse) in Orphée, Virginia Opera, 2012 (photo by David A. Beloff) Virginia Opera has moved into the lead position as the local opera company most willing to take risks and challenge its audience. After winning new productions of Aida and Hansel and Gretel in the fall, it threw all caution to the

Awash in Beautiful Music: Munich's Promising Rheingold

2012-02-10T16:30:00.001-05:00

No matter whether the opera house is small, provincial, or top-of-the-heap: staging Wagner’s Ring Cycle is a special event that stands out of the rest of the season and overshadows otherwise starry premieres. That is no different for the Freiburg or Detmold opera houses than it is for the Met or the Bavarian State Opera, all of which (apart from Essen, Frankfurt, and Hannover) are putting on the

NSO in DSCH and Bruckner

2012-02-10T16:02:00.000-05:00

Charles T. Downey, Christoph Eschenbach and National Symphony put new spin on familiar works Washington Post, February 10, 2012 L. Fay, Shostakovich: A Life Shostakovich, Violin Concerto No. 1, N. Salerno-Sonnenberg, London Symphony Orchestra, M. ShostakovichNeither of the pieces played Thursday night by the National Symphony Orchestra — Shostakovich’s first Violin Concerto and Bruckner’s

Vivaldi Edition: 'Teuzzone'

2012-02-10T09:06:00.000-05:00

Vivaldi, Teuzzone, Le Concert des Nations, J. Savall (released on December 27, 2011) Naïve OP 30513 | 2h50 Charles T. Downey, Vivaldi, Teuzzone The Classical Review, February 10 Most of the releases in Naïve’s Vivaldi Edition, the fruit of a quixotic project to record all of Antonio Vivaldi’s music found in the manuscript collection of the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino, are

Exploding the Piano (Not Literally)

2012-02-09T10:31:00.000-05:00

Charles T. Downey, Kathleen Supové’s ‘Exploding Piano’ recital at Atlas gets lost in the clutter Washington Post, February 9, 2012 K. Supové, Exploding the Piano (2010)The ’80s retrospective that began with Madonna’s Super Bowl performance as a cheerleading Cleopatra dancing for world peace continued Tuesday night with one of Kathleen Supové’s “Exploding Piano” recitals as part of the new

St. Olaf Choir Centennial Tour

2012-02-08T11:00:00.001-05:00

This review is an Ionarts exclusive. Monday evening the St. Olaf College Choir (Northfield, Minn.), conducted by Anton Armstrong, graced the stage of the Music Center at Strathmore, performing for a capacity audience. Swaying and singing from memory for their two-and-a-half-hour program, holding hands and dressed in purple velvet robes hemmed a strict distance from the ground, the St. Olaf Choir

Konstantin Soukhovetski @ Phillips

2012-02-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

Charles T. Downey, Konstantin Soukhovetski at Phillips Collection Washington Post, February 7, 2012 R. Strauss, Capriccio, R. Fleming, G. Finley, Opéra National de Paris, U. Schirmer What would happen if you took the music of three rather different composers and played it all like Rachmaninoff? This was apparently the goal of a recital by Konstantin Soukhovetski, heard Sunday afternoon at the

Mozart Woche Salzburg: “You must hear Ébène!”

2012-02-06T07:58:00.002-05:00

Very few musicians are so good that a less-than-starry performance doesn’t affect how we think of them. Once we have identified them, though, we hear (or imagine) the difference between general ho-hum and a one-off. Mediocre Mahler won’t deter me from seeing Andris Nelsons as one of the conductors of our time. Non-committal Schubert will not alter my admiration for Alexandre Tharaud as the most

Cygnus Ensemble at LoC

2012-02-06T00:21:00.000-05:00

Charles T. Downey, Tribute to Fritz Kreisler at the Library of Congress Washington Post, February 6, 2012 H. Meltzer, Brion (inter alia), Cygnus Ensemble (2010) The Library of Congress’s tribute to Fritz Kreisler on Friday night had an unintended consequence. The Cygnus Ensemble and friends noted the 50th anniversary of the eminent violinist’s death with a performance of some of his

In Brief: Candlemas Edition

2012-02-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

Here is your regular Sunday selection of links to good things in Blogville and Beyond.Happy birthday to both Philip Glass and Franz Schubert, who turned 75 and 215, respectively, on January 31. To celebrate, you can listen to Dennis Russell Davies conduct the Bruckner Orchester Linz in a performance of Glass's ninth symphony, programmed after Beethoven's eighth. [Österreichischer Rundfunk]

Ionarts-at-Large: Ax in Szymanowski

2012-02-04T11:00:00.004-05:00

Schumann’s Manfred (“dramatic poem with music in three parts”) exists, even if only the overture is ever performed. Recordings were rare until last year but have been amended by accounts from Andrey Boreyko (Arthaus DVD) and Bruno Weil (Preiser SACD). Perhaps just a few performances of the whole thing would suffice to yearn again for the narrative-romantic conciseness of just the overture. But

NSO and Political Regrets

2012-02-03T02:22:00.004-05:00

A cycle of the Beethoven symphonies is an old stand-by of music directors making their mark with a new ensemble. Marin Alsop did it with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and a focus on Beethoven was one of the (minor) disappointments of Christoph Eschenbach's second season with the National Symphony Orchestra. Not that the Beethoven symphonies are not remarkable pieces, but no matter how you

Briefly Noted: Gluck's 'Ezio'

2012-02-02T10:57:00.000-05:00

Gluck, Ezio, S. Prina, A. Hallenberg, Il Complesso Barocco, A. Curtis (released on September 27, 2011) Virgin 5099907092923 | 146'53" We are on record as wanting to hear much more of the operas of Christoph Willibald Gluck. Of course, as a Baroque fanatic, I am thrilled by the revival of the operas of Handel and Vivaldi, but Gluck's operas are much more influential on the history of opera,

Classical Music Agenda: February 2012

2012-02-01T06:08:00.003-05:00

Here they are, our monthly picks, no more than ten, for the best concerts to hear in the Washington area in the month to come. The complete calendar will run through the sidebar, or you can follow the link at the bottom of this post for a complete listing. VOCAL: For your song recital needs this month, the best of the best will be mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, in recital with pianist Malcolm

Les Violons du Roy in Charm City

2012-01-31T13:05:00.000-05:00

Mr. Corelli in London, M. Steger, English Concert, L. Cummings (2010) Handel, Water Music, Les Violons du Roy, B. Labadie (2008) Our last chance to hear Les Violons du Roy in the area was in 2005, so we were not going to miss the chance to hear the Canadian early music group when they played on Sunday afternoon at Baltimore's Shriver Hall. The group plays on modern instruments, so they

Widmann Shy of the Mark

2012-01-30T21:54:00.000-05:00

Christoph Eschenbach has many tricks up his sleeve, concert ideas that he brings to new cities as music director or guest conductor. Washington is benefiting from the best of those ideas, in the second season of Eschenbach's tenure at the helm of the National Symphony Orchestra. The invitation he gave to German Wunderkind Jörg Widmann, who offered both his skills as clarinetist and a recent

Dip Your Ears, No. 112

2012-01-30T15:02:00.010-05:00

M.Weinberg, Requiem op.96,V.Fedoseyev / VSO, Prague Philharmonic Chorus, Vienna Boys' Choir et al.NEOS SACD 11127 Weinberg Edition No.3:Mieczysław Weinberg, Requiem, "And then..." [F.G.Lorca] (excerpt), Fedoseyev et al., NEOSWeinberg’s 1967 Requiem, an empathetic response to Britten’s War Requiem, is a secular death mass in that line of Berlioz-Verdi-Britten-Shostakovich (13th Symphony).

Viola da Gamba Ascendens

2012-01-30T10:36:00.000-05:00

J. S. Bach, Suites for Solo Cello, P. Pandolfo (viola da gamba) (2001) C. F. Abel, Music from the Drexel Manuscript, P. Pandolfo (viola da gamba) (2009) Johann Sebastian Bach wrote music for the viola da gamba retrospectively -- museologically, one could say, Bach's encyclopedic tendencies being an irresistible compulsion -- but also affectionately. Bach's beloved employer, the Prince of