This is a fascinating feature from the New York Times about what makes the Vienna Philharmonic sound so unique. Maestro Zubin Mehta gives his views along with some of the musicians from the orchestra.
For a start, the horns and the oboes in the orchestra are of the Viennese type and distinct from those played in other countries. The feature also contains video footage of how some of these instruments are played and sound.
Reviews of Opera Australia’s Ring adventure in Melbourne with the performance of the first in the cycle Das Rheingold: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/feathers-and-cossies-the-ring-comes-full-cycle/story-e6frg8n6-1226762861675 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/stage/neil-armfields-das-rheingold-from-wagners-ring-cycle-is-utterly-human/story-fn9d344c-1226763200219 Murray Black reviews Vladimir Ashkenazy’s tenure in The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/were-all-the-better-for-ashkenazys-sso-tour/story-e6frg8n6-1226762785028 A Polish pianist recreates the piano designed by Leonardo da Vinci: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/leonardo-da-vincis-wacky-piano-is-heard-for-the-first-time-after-500-years-20131118-2xpqs.html Mariss Jansons – ‘the greatest conductor on earth’: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/sound-and-style-20131114-2xhk2.html
The Renaissance Players’ latest double CD, Pilgrimage to Montserrat, is a welcome opportunity for 21st century listeners to hear a richly varied, yet stylistically true reconstruction of the songs that medieval pilgrims may have played to each other en route to discover the miracles of Montserrat. Pilgrimage to Montserrat, music from the Iberian Peninsula, brings Winsome…
* More from the Australian Chamber Orchestra’s US tour: http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/tognetti-adds-another-string-to-his-bow-20120504-1y46y.html * Composed in 2009 to commemorate the devastating bush fires that year, Brett Dean’s Fire Music was performed in Adelaide over the weekend. Read the review as well an interview in which Brett Dean talks to his publishers Boosey and Hawkes about Fire Music: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/arts/music/visceral-masterpiece-conjures-up-fear-in-fire/story-fn9d2mxu-1226348104697…
Sydney audiences are by and large generous in their applause even if they don’t approve of the performer or the production. ‘Boos’ are rarely, if ever heard, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, when the villian of the piece takes his curtain call. The most emphatic expression of audience disapproval is to leave at interval. Other ‘houses’ are different. A new…
This is a really important feature from theatre critic Jane Howard, writing in The Guardian about the culture of arts criticism in Australia, the loss of “critical dialogue” and a plurality of views. It applies as much to music as it does to the theatre. A recommended read.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports on experiment conducted by a researcher at the University of Paris which casts doubt on the superior qualities of violins made by the Italian masters. At the proceedings of the US National Academy of Sciences, Professor Claudia Fritz and her colleagues reported on their double blinded trial in which 21 violinists attending…