COMPOSER NEWSBBC Composer of the Week: Giuseppe VerdiJuly 22, 2010 Donald Macleod continues his exploration of Verdi's operas with Don Carlos, an epic tale of thwarted love that poses epic problems for directors. The historical Don Carlos was a tortured, tragic and misshapen young man in 16th-century Spain. Verdi's grand operatic version of his life, based, not for the first time, on a play by Schiller, turned out to have one of the most tortuous and protracted histories in all opera. As a result there are no fewer than eight possible 'authentic' versions of the score, so for anyone putting on a production of Don Carlos, it's rather a case of Let's Make an Opera!
Betrayal In Brooklyn: 'A View From The Bridge' July 20, 2010 When William Bolcom's opera A View from the Bridge premiered in Chicago in 1999, one critic described it as "Brooklyn verismo," invoking the emotive style popularized by Italian composers such as Puccini. And that pretty much hits the nail on the head.
In defence of Schumann July 14, 2010 Robert Schumann wrote music of extraordinary, visionary beauty. But why is so much of it so little known? It's time to re-evaluate a musical genius.
Drumming in Summer with Xenakis June 22, 2010 Fiercely iconoclastic composer Iannis Xenakis receives extraordinary tributes in New York City and Montreal this month. Composer and writer Raphael Mostel profiles the artist himself and the various offerings staged in honor of the late musician.
How to execute Mozart's unknown ending June 19, 2010 Mozart left his opera Zaide uncompleted and with his heroes facing death. Ian Page explains how he finished what the composer started.
John Eaton Chats About 'Benjamin Button' Opera; World Premiere June 15 June 14, 2010 Center for Contemporary Opera closes its 27th season with the world premiere presentation of John Eaton’s opera The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on June 15, 2010 at Symphony Space. Eaton discusses the work here.
Robert Schumann's Routine Of Intensity June 10, 2010 Intensity. There's no more appropriate word to describe Robert Schumann. Everything in his life seemed to be done with nothing less than total commitment, from his unrelenting pursuit of the love of his life, Clara, to his determination to make a career of composing. Even his way of pursuing that career was a full immersion approach — spending a year writing songs, then a year on symphonic music, followed by nothing but chamber music.
Robert Schumann's Childhood Dreams June 08, 2010 To mark the 200th anniversary of Robert Schumann's birth, pianist and composer Rob Kapilow takes a look at one of Schumann's most quiet, introspective and most popular pieces — "Träumerei," often translated as "Dreaming," from the set of 13 solo piano pieces called Kinderszenen, or Scenes from Childhood.
BBC Composer of the Week: Alessandro Scarlatti (1660-1725) June 03, 2010 Donald Macleod continues our series, focusing upon Alessandro Scarlatti's disillusionment with Rome, and his opera failures for the Venetian Carnival season in 1707.
Opera Amended: Gluck's 'Iphigenia in Aulis' June 01, 2010 What did the 18th-century opera composer Christoph Willibald Gluck and 20th-century jazz great Miles Davis have in common? Quite a bit, as it turns out, including a genuine disregard for the status quo.
1 Composer, 2 Centuries, Many Picks May 28, 2010 The classical music world, embarked on a bicentennial tour through the Romantic era, is just now preoccupied with the melancholic master Frédéric Chopin, born near Warsaw in 1810. Beloved by pianists for his abundant legacy, he is cherished by countless others for the teeming worlds of color and emotion he conjured. The classical music critics of The New York Times have combed through the many recordings devoted to Chopin and selected their favorites.
BBC Composer of the Week: Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) May 25, 2010 Dvořák's earliest attempts at opera were not at all successful, but he couldn't shake the opera bug and determined to struggle on, even if that meant re-composing an entire music drama from scratch.
NY Philharmonic plays high schoolers' compositions May 22, 2010 Two subway-inspired compositions written by New York City high school students are being performed at Lincoln Center.
I'll Be Bach May 20, 2010 A computer program is writing great, original works of classical music. Will human composers soon be obsolete?
BBC Composer of the Week: Verismo May 18, 2010 The last decade of the nineteenth century produced a work that's been cited as a watershed of verismo. Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana is a tale of rivalry and infidelity, set in a village in Sicily. Its unprecedented popularity generated a rush of composers interested in producing their own takes on this new style of musical drama. Two years later that included Leoncavallo who produced "I Pagliacci", an opera that's forever linked with Cavalleria rusticana as part of the double bill popularly known as Cav and Pag.
The Kennedy legacy, set to music May 13, 2010 It was, Peter Boyer says, “one of those phone calls composers dream about getting.’’ In October 2009, Boston Pops music director Keith Lockhart called Boyer at the composer’s California home to discuss a piece the Pops wanted to commission: a tribute to John, Robert, and Edward Kennedy, incorporating the words of all three members of one of America’s foremost political dynasties.
Endlessly devoted to his music May 11, 2010 He has 21 Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, and five Oscars. He has composed music for four Olympics, the “NBC Nightly News,’’ President Obama’s inauguration, the Statue of Liberty’s rededication, and Darth Vader’s entrances. “Star Wars’’ is one of more than 100 film scores he’s written, and with 45 Oscar nominations, he is the second-most nominated person after Walt Disney. Of course John Williams knows how he should be memorialized on the occasion of the Boston Pops’ 125th anniversary.
BBC Composer of the Week: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) May 10, 2010 Aside from his music, Beethoven is perhaps best known for his devastating loss of hearing and infamous love life. Donald Macleod examines how this complex man was affected by such crises, set against the backdrop of the turbulent years through which he lived. In each episode Donald concentrates on the music and events in and around one significant year, beginning in 1803.
Jozef van Wissem: Transcendental Lute May 07, 2010 Van Wissem would be very out of place at a Renaissance Faire. He wants to dust away the old associations that cling to the lute, and make it, he says, "more contemporary, more sexy." He composes new music for lute, and is happy to approach the instrument in ways a traditionalist probably wouldn't even consider. He plays it with a bottle neck on occasion, and sometimes blends its sound with electronics or recordings of airport ambience.
BBC Composer of the Week: Samuel Barber (1910-1981) April 29, 2010 He may have been one of America's greatest cultural exports, but Barber was never quite the model patriot. Donald Macleod charts the composer's ambivalent relationship with his country, including a spell in the army which was always very much on the musician's terms.
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