Daniil Trifonov at Carnegie Hall
I think Trifonov gets better and better. Daniil Trifonov, the young Russian sensation, played a recital in Carnegie Hall last Wednesday night. His instrument is the piano. His program was all-Schumann on the first half, all-Russian on the second. The Russian composers...
Emanuel Ax and Milwaukee Symphony
I've always loved the piano and cello. I wish I could have seen this! Friday’s Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concert was a feast of soulful music making. The orchestra, playing under the baton of Music Director Edo de Waart, opened the morning’s program with a feisty,...
Yuja Wang and the Art of Performance
Yuja Wang and the Art of Performance It is SO great to read an article about a pianist that ranges from literature to fashion to romance. Thanks to the New Yorker, the indispensable magazine. What is one to think of the clothes the twenty-nine-year-old pianist Yuja...
Sarah Cahill’s Varied Program Provides Good Results
Programming a concert is an art unto itself. Few pianists have the ability to create enjoyable concert experiences out of tiresome pieces like Percy Grainger’s The Immovable Do. Luckily, Sarah Cahill is one of them: playing briskly, with unaffected yet expressive...
Uchida Gets a Mixed Review
Not every performance is stunning, even for the incomparable Mitsuko Uchida. Pianist Mitsuko Uchida could've been canonized or at least elected president if her audience on Thursday at the Kimmel Center held any sway, so cultivated, profound, and immediately...
Hewitt plays Brahms with the Calgary Philharmonic
Angela Hewitt's reputation as a pianist is usually coupled with the Bach, but her recent performance with the Calgary Philharmonic focuses on another of the 3B's... Aimez-vous Brahms? This question is the title of a novel by Francoise Sagan about the emotional...
Albright at the Gardner
Charlie Albright has three planned concerts with the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston - all based on the idea of themes and variations. Here's the review of the reviews: Pianist Charlie Albright returned to the ISGM with the first of three planned concerts...
Haochen Zhang performs Brahms 2 with South Bend Symphony Orchestra
South Bend was just treated to a performance of Brahms 2nd by 2009 Van Cliburn Gold Medalist Haochen Zhang. SOUTH BEND — On Thursday, the South Bend Symphony Orchestra announced its list of five finalists to fill the soon-to-be-vacant position of music director. On...
Chicago Ensemble Rediscovers Unknown Piano Quintets
Ludwig Thuille...Bohuslav Martinů...definitely not household names. But just because pieces are written by known composers doesn't mean that they aren't worthy of being played as the Chicago Ensemble demonstrated with several piano quintets. One can always count on...
Arnaldo Cohen and San Diego Symphony Perform from the “Same Musical Country”
What do countries really mean in the world of classical music today? Garrett Harris from the San Diego Reader reviewed Arnaldo Cohen's recent performance with the San Diego Symphony and began asking himself that question. The San Diego Symphony put Beethoven and...