Alex Ross's Blog, page 39

A Mattie Barbier moment

From Barbier's new album threads, which was recorded at The Tank. Video filmed at the Museum of Jurassic Technology.

Adams's Antony and Cleopatra

Immortal Longings. The New Yorker, Oct. 3, 2022.

Nightafternight playlist

New and recent releases of interest.

Andrew McIntosh, Little Jimmy, I have a lot to learn, Learning; Yarn/Wire (Kairos)

Mahler, Symphony No. 5; Semyon Bychkov conducting the Czech Philharmonic (Pentatone, out Oct. 14)

Mozart, Piano Sonatas; Robert Levin (ECM)

Odeya Nini, ODE (out Oct. 7)

Tristan: works of Liszt, Henze, Wagner, and Mahler; Igor Levit, Franz Welser-Möst conducting the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Sony)

Weinberg, Symphonies Nos. 3 and 7, Flute Concerto No. 1; Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducting the City Of Birmingham Symphony and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, with Kirill Gerstein and Marie-Christine Zupancic (DG)

she / her / hers: works by Milica Paranosic, Jessica Meyer, Gabriela Lena Frank, Adah Kaplan, Valerie Coleman, Laurie Anderson, Melissa Dunphy, Sophie-Carmen Eckhardt-Gramatté, Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux, Jessie Montgomery, Ana Sokolović, Laura de Rover; Lara St. John (Ancalagon)

Meyerbeer, Robert le Diable; John Osborn, Nicolas Courjal, Amina Edris, Erin Morley, Nico Darmanin, Marc Minkowski conducting the Orchestre National Bordeaux Aquitaine and the Chœur de l'Opera National de Bordeaux (Bru Zane)

Schulhoff, Shapeshifter: Piano Concerto and other works; players from the Colburn School, including James Conlon leading the RVC Ensemble (Delos)

A Bára Gísladóttir and Skúli Sverrisson moment

Via the Louth Contemporary Music Society.

New horizons in negative dialectics

For Queen Elizabeth II

The late Queen was not known for making ostentatious progressive gestures, but her decision to send a telegram of condolence to Peter Pears after the death of Benjamin Britten, in 1976, was a quietly significant one. Britten ended his life in a position of exalted privilege, holding a peerage that the Queen had bestowed on him. Yet homophobia shadowed him all along, and shaped perceptions of his work after his death. The telegram implicitly honored a gay relationship in what may have been an unprecedented way. I always thought warmly of the Queen for this ̉reason — that, and the fact that she somewhat resembled my mother, who adored her.

SF Opera centenary

San Francisco Opera, which just inaugurated its centenary season with the world première of John Adams's Antony and Cleopatra, is also offering what looks to be a riveting series of archival streams. Up now are offerings on a Slavic theme: Jenůfa with Elisabeth Söderström (1980), Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk with Anja Silja (1981), and excerpts from a 1945 Boris Godunov with Ezio Pinza.

An Anna Korsun moment

Messiaen on Rachmaninoff

Noise reader Vinny writes: "Here is a tale related to me by one of my college professors, Gerald Levinson, from his times studying with Messiaen. Messiaen had invited his corps of students to dinner. Conversation at the table was vibrant and had managed to swing towards judging the merits of Rachmaninoff. Loriod turned to Messiaen and asked, 'What DO we think of Rachmaninoff?' There was a two-minute pregnant pause while he considered. Then he rendered: 'We approve.'"

On a relevant and doleful note, Vinny has created an amazing online catalogue of Dies Irae quotations.

Rachmaninoff at Bard

Rachmaninoff in Valhalla.

Chart-Topper. The New Yorker, Sept. 5, 2022.