This is from a rehearsal with the London Symphony Orchestra, c. 1962. Still, the musicians manage to generate some heat. You’ll hear Monteux tell the orchestra “Thank you very much” at the end.
Carlo Maria Giulini conducts ‘The Three-Cornered Hat’
An excerpt, with the Philharmonia Orchestra.
Review: Pacific Symphony revives Bolcom’s ‘Canciones de Lorca’
St.Clair and the orchestra also perform music by Falla and Rodrigo. Guitarist Xuefei Yang is soloist.
Click here to read my review. Orange County Register, Oct. 25, 2013.
Upcoming concerts
Estonian National Symphony
The Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, that country’s leading orchestra and well known in the West for its recordings of Arvo Pärt, drops by Soka University as part of a U.S. tour. The venerable Neeme Järvi is on the podium to lead music by Pärt (the “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten”), Dvorák (the Cello Concerto, with Narek Hakhnazaryan) and Sibelius (the majestic Symphony No. 5). 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $48-$58. Soka Performing Arts Center, Aliso Viejo. 949-480-4278 or performingarts.soka.edu
Perlman conducts
Still among the world’s most popular violinists, Itzhak Perlman has added conducting to his resumé in recent years. With violin and baton in hand, he visits the Los Angeles Philharmonic this week to lead performances of the “Summer” and “Winter” concertos from Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” (in which he also plays the solo part), Weber’s Overture to “Oberon” and Berlioz’s roof-raising “Symphonie Fantastique.” 11 a.m. Friday; 8 p.m. Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $24-$191. Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles. 323-850-2000 or laphil.com
South Coast Symphony
The pops-oriented South Coast Symphony, self-billed as Orange County’s “unstuffy symphony,” opens its season with a light but bona fide classical program featuring “the 3 Gs.” The program includes Glazunov’s “Autumn” from “The Seasons,” Gershwin’s Symphonic Selections from “Porgy and Bess” and Ferde Grofé’s beloved “Grand Canyon Suite.” 7:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $15-$40. Crossline Community Church, 23331 Moulton Parkway, Laguna Hills. 714-731-8079 or southcoastsymphony.org
Pasadena Symphony
The Pasadena Symphony launches the season with its new music director, British conductor David Lockington. The program tests everyone’s mettle: It opens with Shostakovich’s blistering “Festive Overture,” continues with Leonard Bernstein’s “Serenade” (based on Plato’s “Symposium” and featuring violinist Anne Akiko Meyers as soloist) and ends with Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $35-$105. Ambassador Auditorium, Pasadena. 626-793-7172 or pasadenasymphony-pops.org
Verdi’s Requiem
Conductor John Alexander and the Pacific Chorale, entering their 42nd season together and never singing better, open their schedule with the big operatic bang of Verdi’s Requiem in celebration of the composer’s 200th birthday. Soprano Amber Wagner, mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby, tenor James Valenti and bass Eric Halfvarson are the soloists. The Pacific Symphony joins in the thundering and somber masterpiece. 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $29-$129. Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. 714-662-2345 or pacificchorale.org
photo credit: Simon van Boxtel
Yuja Wang, the review
In today’s Orange County Register online, my review of pianist Yuja Wang’s recital last week is available for free.
photo: Xavier Antoinet
Review: ‘Einstein on the Beach’
Photo: Lucie Jansch
In today’s Orange County Register, my review of “Einstein on the Beach,” performed last weekend at L.A. Opera, is available gratis.
Yuja Wang: More than a red dress
In today’s Orange County Register online, my interview with pianist Yuja Wang, which took place before her sensational recital here on Sunday, has become free for all to read.
Click here to read my interview with Yuja Wang. Oct. 9, 2013.
Interview: In which I answer the New York Times’ questions meant for Yo-Yo Ma
Do you ever wonder why it was you and not someone else who became a great cellist? What sets you apart?
Uh, I don’t play the cello. I guess that sets me apart from other cellists.
Earlier this year at the Aspen Ideas Festival you said it wasn’t until you turned 49 that you thought being a musician was cool. What did you mean by that?
I don’t have the foggiest idea. I don’t remember saying that. I don’t remember being in Aspen.
I don’t know if a lot of people think of music as a vehicle for understanding human behavior.
Is that a question?
How often do you practice, and for how long?
I practice whenever the band at work has a performance coming up. It usually takes me 3 or 4 weeks to get back into shape. I start simply, maybe 5 minutes a day, and gradually increase the time over the course of my practicing, to 30 to 45 minutes. That gets me in good enough shape for our band’s gigs.
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