Austria Boulez, Ibert, Pintscher, and Debussy: Emmanuel Pahud (flute), ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra / Baldur Brönnimann (conductor). Grosser Saal, Konzerthaus, Vienna, 1.6.2017. (MB)
This Week’s Review
The Golden Cockerel Is Finally Staged in Madrid
Spain Rimsky-Korsakov, The Golden Cockerel: Orchestra and Chorus of Teatro Real / Ivor Bolton (conductor), Teatro Real, Madrid, 31.5.2017 & 1.6.2017. (JMI)
Eleventh English Music Festival Continues with Unflagging Confidence
United Kingdom English Music Festival – Vaughan Williams, Delius, Holst, Phillips: Ilona Domnich (soprano), BBC Concert Orchestra / Martin Yates (conductor), Dorchester Abbey, Dorchester-on Thames. 26.5.2017. (RBa)
Haitink’s Reading of Bruckner’s Ninth Improves as it Unfolds
United Kingdom Beethoven and Bruckner: Mitsuko Uchida (piano), London Symphony Orchestra / Bernard Haitink (conductor), Barbican Hall, Barbican Centre, London, 1.6.2017. (AS)
THE GREAT CANADIAN ARTISTS: AN INTERVIEW WITH VIOLINIST JAMES EHNES
James Ehnes in conversation with Geoffrey Newman
There are few more celebrated musicians in the world right now than Manitoba-born violinist James Ehnes; and few listeners have failed to succumb to his tonal luster, silken lyrical lines and insightful virtuosity. After initial training with Francis Chaplin, the violinist made his solo debut at age 13 with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, followed by studies with Sally Thomas at Meadowmount and Juilliard (1993-97). Ehnes won the Peter Mennin Prize upon his Juilliard graduation, and subsequently received the first-ever Ivan Galamian Memorial Award and an Avery Fisher Career Grant, in addition to the highest Canadian honours. A turning point in Ehnes’ recording career came in 2006-2007 when his ‘homegrown’ recording of the Barber, Korngold and Walton concertos with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (under Bramwell Tovey) won both Juno and Grammy awards. This was followed by the widely-praised Onyx recording of the Elgar Violin Concerto with Sir Andrew Davis.
Gilbert Brings New Works with Imagination and Wonder
United States Brahms, Thorvaldsdottir, Salonen: Leonidas Kavakos (Violin), Anu Komsi and Piia Komse (Sopranos), New York Philharmonic / Alan Gilbert (Conductor), David Geffen Hall, New York City. 19.5.2017. (DS)
Romanticism and a Recent Work from an Outstanding Quartet
United States Jalbert, Brahms: Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer, Hyeyung Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; Gregor Beaver, cello), Toddler Palmer (clarinet), The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, 11.5.2017 (KG)
A Mahler Third Presented in Surprising but Illuminating Colors
United States Mahler: Karen Cargill (mezzo-soprano), Women of the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir (Amanda Quist, director), The American Boychoir/Fernando Malvar-Ruiz (music director), Philadelphia Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin (conductor), Verizon Hall, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, 20.5.2017. (BJ)