Here’s the latest edition of my newsletter. Contents: September Concerts Roundup Interview: Dennis Kim Interview: Meredith Crawford Listen to This: Boléro Single Tickets Connections Series Renamed Video: Festive Overture Essential Books (4) Miscellany Pacific Overtures. September, 2018.
Shostakovich’s ‘Festive Overture,’ for ocarina septet
Shostakovich composed his Festive Overture for full symphony orchestra, of course, and that’s the version that conductor Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony will perform at the annual Tchaikovsky Spectacular on Sept. 8. Meanwhile, here’s another version, amusing but impressive all
A Shostakovich playlist
Ticket deal for ‘Watts Plays Beethoven’
Readers of this blog will receive 20 percent off of their ticket purchase for ‘Watts Plays Beethoven’ by going here and entering the promo code “blog”. The concert features the venerable André Watts as soloist in Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto and
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10, second movement
Every time I hear this performance I’m astounded. Yevgeny Mravinsky conducts the Leningrad Philharmonic. Carl St.Clair and Pacific Symphony perform Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 10 on May 3-5.
Books on classical music: Some essentials (3)
Two novels … “The Noise of Time” by Julian Barnes. Barnes, the author of such remarkable books as “Flaubert’s Parrot” and “Arthur and George,” has based this novel on ostensibly non-fictional material. In an author’s note at the end, he
Great moments in commercial music: Lincoln
From time to time we spot a commercial on TV or elsewhere that uses classical music. In this occasional series, we aim to share said commercials and identify said music. We caught this advert for Lincoln in a movie theater
Review: Dover Quartet plays ‘Voices of Defiance,’ music of Ullmann, Laks and Shostakovich
By TIMOTHY MANGAN Reading the liner notes to the Dover Quartet’s “Voices of Defiance” before I listened to it was probably a mistake. They gave me the impression that the recording would be tough, unpleasant going. The three pieces were