This afternoon Peoples’ Symphony Concerts presented a recital by Hungarian-born musicians, Kristof Barati (violinist) and Klara Wurtz (pianist), at New York’s Town Hall. They presented a conservative program that could have been presented more than a century ago without raising an eyebrow: Beethoven’s Sonatas Nos. 4 & 9, Op. 23 and Op. 47 (the “Kreutzer Sonata”), and Brahms’ Sonata No. 1, Op. 78. These are all masterpieces and I have no objection to their presentation, … <Read More>
Peoples’ Symphony Concerts
Peoples’ Symphony Concerts Launch 114th Season with Piano Recital by Lise de la Salle
The Peoples’ Symphony Concerts organization launched their 114th season on Saturday night, October 12, 2013, presenting a piano recital by Lise de la Salle in the newly-renovated auditorium at Washington Irving High School in Manhattan. Miss de la Salle, who has play previously at PSC, offered a program of Bach-Busoni, Debussy, and Schumann, with two encores of Liszt elaborations of songs by Schumann and Schubert.
I first became acquainted with de la Salle’s playing through … <Read More>
NYC Musical Diary – More May Concerts – Detroit SO, Alarm Will Sound, Musicians From Marlboro
Being busy with final exams and grading, I haven’t been to as many concerts as usual over the past few weeks, but I wanted to comment about a few:
May 10 in Carnegie Hall I attended one of their “Spring for Music” concerts, a presentation of the four symphonies of Charles Ives by Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. I’ve been an Ives fan since high school days, when I performed the double bass … <Read More>
Cultural Diary – March 23 through May 1, 2013 – A Busy Season in NYC
Between work, concerts and theater, I’ve been so busy that I’ve generally avoided blogging about the things I’ve been attending over the past five weeks or so. This is a catch-up posting, briefly mentioning that things I haven’t had time to write about in longer posts. This post details the musical events (including opera). In another, I’ll address the theatrical ones.
Beginning at the beginning, with Richard Goode, and – surprise – ending with him … <Read More>
East Coast Chamber Orchestra at Peoples’ Symphony Concerts
The East Coast Chamber Orchestra (ECCO), a conductorless string ensemble made up of young musicians who, in their day jobs, perform with several leading orchestras and chamber music groups, comes together several times a year to perform for their own pleasure, evidently, and has now made several appearances on the Peoples’ Symphony Concerts series in New York, the latest this past Saturday, March 16, 2013, at the High School of Fashion Industries on West 24th … <Read More>