By TIMOTHY MANGAN The stories behind the stories: I won’t assert that they are more interesting than the stories themselves, but they’re not without interest. I’ve learned a lot about classical musicians, both individually and as a group, interviewing them
Book review: ‘Famous Father Girl’ by Jamie Bernstein
Being the child of Leonard Bernstein was like having a nuclear blast for a dad. You practically had to stand back and wear protective goggles when he came into a room, and even then the gale wind and blinding light
A visit to Pacific Symphony’s music library
You go in the artists’ entrance at Segerstrom Concert Hall, walk past the security guard behind the window (once you get the OK), enter the first door on the right and head down two flights of stairs. You’re in the
Bernstein at the Skirball
I went to the “Leonard Bernstein at 100” exhibit at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, an entertaining way to beat the excessive heat. The exhibit, which runs through Sept. 2, is organized by the GRAMMY Museum
Neglected symphony: Walter Piston: Symphony No. 2
Walter Piston’s Symphony No. 2 was given its premiere by the National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Kindler in March of 1944. Leonard Bernstein chose the remarkable Adagio of this work to perform with the New York Philharmonic as a
Kleiber 88
The brilliant conductor Carlos Kleiber would have been 88 years old today. One never needs an excuse to watch or listen to this great musician, but here’s one anyway. He leads the Bavarian State Orchestra in the “Thunder and Lightning”
Strauss conducts Strauss
Richard Strauss conducts his own “Till Eulenspiegel.” This is a clip from the documentary “The Art of Conducting: Great Conductors of the Past.” The first voice you hear speaking is Yehudi Menuhin’s. Carl St.Clair conducts Strauss’s “Ein Heldenleben” this week,
Pacific Symphony’s Roger Kalia wins Solti award
Pacific Symphony assistant conductor Roger Kalia has been named as one of the winners of the 2018 Solti Foundation Career Assistance Awards, the Solti Foundation U.S. announced Monday. This is Kalia’s third such award, having also garnered Solti career assists
Audio: Klemperer conducts the Overture to ‘The Magic Flute’
Here’s one of my favorite recordings of Mozart’s Overture to “The Magic Flute,” with the Philharmonia conducted by Otto Klemperer. It’s stately but never heavy, and finely detailed. https://ia801709.us.archive.org/23/items/MagicFluteOvertureklemperer/1-01Mozart_DieZauberflteK620-Overture.mp3 Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony give three semi-staged performances of “The
The daily routine of a master musician
Every artist should develop some sort of daily routine to further his or her art. Here, below, is the daily routine of the Swedish conductor/composer/trombonist Christian Lindberg. Regimented and extreme but effective, no doubt. And he seems a happy chap.