In today’s Orange County Register online, I review the Pacific Symphony’s complete performance of Steiner’s classic score synchronized with a screening of the film.
Click here to read my review, or pick up a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.
St. Patrick’s Day Irish whiskey taste test
We offer this off-subject missive as a public service.
Some of you may have seen this before. Enjoy it again in an all-new slideshow version!
photo: M.A. Mullen
100,000
At some point during the day — this day — I hit the 100,000 mark for “views” on this blog.
According to my dashboard, the 100,00th page view could have come from one of several countries, including Argentina, Romania (with 7 views today), France, Italy, or, most likely, the United States. At any rate, I’d like to thank the entire globe for helping me reach the 100,000 mark, especially Cameroon. I’m huge in Cameroon.
There are 288 posts on this blog (289 with this one, relive the thrill) and you can do the math. It’s not magnificent, but then, it’s not bad either.
Thanks for your patronage. I’m very grateful.
Here’s my first post.
The Most Interesting Man in the World’s records
I’ve been given access to the record collection of The Most Interesting Man in the World. He allowed me to sample this one (see photos, click for larger views) and it was amazing. Wonder why we never hear this repertoire in concert.
There’s a lot more where this came from.
Guest review: Alvin Ailey in Costa Mesa
A guest review by dance critic Laura Bleiberg:
For its diehard fans, a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (at Segerstrom Hall through Sunday) is a spiritual experience, with Ailey’s masterpiece “Revelations” the defining “prayer” of every show.
I can’t say I fall into that camp. But as “Revelations” began Tuesday night, the words of one particular spiritual — “There is trouble all over this world” — and the dancers’ emotional depictions of human frailty and burden did cause a shiver. In these times, who wouldn’t agree with that?
This Costa Mesa engagement comes during a significant transition period. Ailey artistic director Judith Jamison, one of the late choreographer’s leading muses and then his hand-picked successor, stepped down last July. She had been one of the dance field’s most successful directors. In partnership with executive director Sharon Luckman, she lifted the troupe to financial security, gave it a multi-million home in midtown Manhattan and raised the dancers’ artistic standards to new heights.
Yuja Wang, a red dress, and wings
Here’s the cover of Yuja Wang’s latest CD. It will be released on April 10th.
I like the track list, though:
Sergei Rachmaninov (1873–1943)
1. Étude-tableau in A minor op. 39 no. 6
2. Étude-tableau in A minor op. 39 no. 4
3. Élégie in E flat minor op. 3 no. 1
4. Étude-tableau in E flat minor op. 39 no. 5
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)
5. Sonata in G major K. 455
Christoph Willibald Gluck (1714–1787)
arr. Giovanni Sgambati (1841–1914)
6. Mélodie de Gluck, Melody from Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice
Isaac Albéniz (1860–1909)
7. Triana, from Iberia, Book II
Georges Bizet (1838–1875)/Vladimir Horowitz (1903–1989)
8. Variations on a Theme from Carmen
(Gypsy Song, Act II)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)/arr. Franz Liszt (1811–1886)
9. Gretchen am Spinnrade D118
Johann Strauss (1825–1899)/arr. György Cziffra (1921–1994)
10. Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka op. 214
Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849)
11. Valse in C sharp minor op. 64 no. 2
Paul Dukas (1865–1935)/arr. Victor Staub (1872–1953)
12. L’Apprenti sorcier
Alexander Scriabin (1872–1915)
13. Prélude in B major op. 11 no. 11
14. Prélude in B minor op. 13 no. 6
15. Prélude in G sharp minor op. 11 no. 12
16. Étude in G sharp minor op. 8 no. 9
17. Poème in F sharp major op. 32 no. 1
Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
arr. Franz Liszt/Vladimir Horowitz
18. Danse macabre op. 40
Joyce Yang takes on Rachmaninoff’s Third
In today’s Orange County Register online, I review last night’s Pacific Symphony concert, with conductor Michael Stern, pianist Joyce Yang and a certain overstuffed piano concerto.
Click here to read my review, or pick up a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.
Related story:
Carlos Kleiber conducts ‘The Dragonfly’
Carlos Kleiber conducts the Vienna Philharmonic (sorry, Lisa) in “Die Libelle” (The Drangonfly), a polka mazur, by Johann Josef Strauss. I’ve been waiting to share this with you. Watch it now before they take the video down.
Related video:
Toscanini conducts ‘Pines’
Arturo Toscanini conducts the final pages of “The Pines of the Appian Way” from Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome.” I think he likes it.
Pacific Symphony performs two premieres by Daugherty and Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
In today’s Orange County Register online, I review last night’s Pacific Symphony concert in which the orchestra performed two new works by Michael Daugherty and other hits. Lame or inspired?
Click here to read my review, or pick up a copy of tomorrow’s newspaper.
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