Philip Glass’ Satyagraha is nearly thirty years old, and it’s proving to be one of his most durable creations. Metropolitan Opera director Peter Gelb calls it Glass’ greatest opera, a masterpiece, and based on the impact it makes in the Met’s vibrant new production, co-produced with the English National Opera, it’s hard to disagree. Satyagraha is a Sanskrit word meaning “truth force,” or “strength through truth,” which Gandhi coined while living in South Africa between 1893 and 1914, working for equality for the country’s Indian population. The philosophy of non-violent resistance that Gandhi and his followers practiced became the model for many of the most successful liberation movements of the twentieth century. The opera focuses on six pivotal events in Gandhi’s life during that period, preceded by a scene from Hindu mythology. The scenes are not arranged chronologically, and the opera’s Sanskrit text, taken from the Bhagavad Gita by Constance de Jong, consists of philosophical reflections rather than dialogue, so the opera obviously doesn’t conform to conventional narrative structure. Each carefully constructed scene makes sense as a dramatic unit, though, and the effect of the whole is powerful.

Read the rest of this entry »

On the Schedule

Thursday:
Flix shows the excellent documentary Standing in the Shadows of Motown bright and early at 6 a.m.

Encore WAM presents the Guided By Voices documentary The Electrifying Conclusion at 11:05 a.m. sharp.

VH1 Classic airs the thorough Pink Floyd and Syd Barrett Story at 2 p.m.

Kid Rock helps Jimmy Kimmel rock in his 1000th episode on ABC at 11:35 p.m.

Ferras and the American Idol finalists drop by the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC at 11:35 p.m.

Read the rest of this entry »

Last November, Austrian pianist Alfred Brendel announced that he would be retiring from the concert stage at the end of 2008. At 77-years-old, he has now been performing publicly for 60 years. The recordings of his early career show a little greater variety of music and a little more verve, but he has earned the regard of many as the pre-eminent interpreter of the Austro-Germanic repertoire and as an intellectual and traditionalist when it comes to music-making. He believes that music needs to be brought to life and have feeling in the way the composer intended, not by molding it to his own or another person’s expressive ideas.
He has recorded the Beethoven and some of the Mozart concertos more than a couple of times.

 
 
Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 17, Op. 31/2 “Tempest” - 1. Largo-Allegro-Adagio
Liszt: La campanella, S. 140/3
Schoenberg: Piano Concerto, Op. 42
Schubert: Piano Sonata in B flat major, D 960 - 1. Molto moderato
Liszt: Sonata in B minor
Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 21 - 2. Andante
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 3 - 3. Rondo
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 5 - 3. Rondo

Read the rest of this entry »

It seems that the 2008 U.S. Presidential race has been going on for four years, but now that the political primaries (or caucuses in some states) are at last in full swing, this a great time to stop listening to the argumentative pundits and repetitious politicians on TV. Instead, put on some old fashioned campaign songs and political music from the past on Sony’s Hail to the Chief!, performed with patriotic gusto and ebullient humor by the Chestnut Brass Company. Whether your favorite candidate wins or loses, we can all get together in a true spirit of bipartisanship for the Fillmore Quick Step or the Buchanan Polka, if only to get some much needed historical perspective.

Tippecanoe and Tyler, Too!
Fillmore Quick Step
Buchanan Polka
Lincoln Grand March
Hail to the Chief!

Don’t forget to vote!

Here’s an interesting idea: No Music Day. The idea is to not listen to any music at all for entire day, specifically tomorrow, Wednesday, November 21. Musician and writer Bill Drummond began No Music Day in 2005, the thought behind it being that people are so over-exposed to recorded music these days that they can’t appreciate music the way it deserves to be appreciated. Drummond chose November 21 because it is the day before the feast day of the Roman martyr St. Cecilia, the patron saint of music. His current five-year plan for No Music Day includes having the BBC Scotland not air any music during its usual afternoon music program on Wednesday; they will instead offer discussions about music. Next year Drummond hopes to show films stripped of their music soundtracks.

The next day, St. Cecilia’s Day (also Thanksgiving!), is an opportunity to really celebrate music. In Europe St. Cecilia has been the center of festivities since the 15th and 16th centuries. (The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome has been turning out great musicians — like Cecilia Bartoli and Daniel Barenboim — since 1585.) Listening to and making no music the day before would make those festivities all that much sweeter. If you decide to go a whole day without music (good luck, you’ll probably find it harder than you think!), here’s a list of works written in honor of St. Cecilia that you may want to use to relieve the silence afterwards:

Henry Purcell: Hail, Bright Cecilia
Alessandro Scarlatti: Messa di Santa Cecilia - Gloria
George Frideric Handel: Alexander’s Feast, an Ode for St. Cecilia’s Day - Revenge, Timotheus cries

Fanny Mendelssohn: Zum Fest der heiligen Cäcilia
Charles Gounod: Messe solennelle de Sainte Cécile - Sanctus
Benjamin Britten: Hymn to St. Cecilia

Every year, you can count on Christmas music taking over the airwaves, almost as soon as the day after Hallowe’en. But in the headlong dash to celebrate December 25, let’s not forget to listen to some music for the intervening holiday, Thanksgiving Day. To mark the occasion, try Paul Hillier’s Home to Thanksgiving (sample) or Naxos’ compilation, A Classic Thanksgiving (sample) to help inspire the feeling of gratitude we should feel all year.

Vanessa, Samuel Barber’s Pulitzer Prize winning opera, opened to wide acclaim in a star-studded production at the Met in 1958, but fairly quickly slipped into semi-obscurity. It was never completely off the radar screens of devout fans of American opera, but for the general opera-going public, there were few chances or incentives to get to know it. There have been some recent trends that point to a growing appreciation of the opera, though. RCA’s excellent original cast recording has never been out of print, but in the last few years, new versions have been popping up, with four currently available, creating a significant critical mass for a modern opera.

Read the rest of this entry »

This past weekend, Bowling Green State University, in conjunction with the Eastman School of Music and its director of Early Music, renowned lutenist Paul O’Dette, mounted the first staged performances of Venetian composer Francesco Cavalli’s opera La virtù de’ strali d’Amore (The Power of Love’s Arrows) since 1642. Aside from rescuing a groundbreaking, funny, and musically appealing work from total obscurity, the production was a refreshing example of creative risk-taking and collaboration in a university setting. Musicologist Vincent Corrigan prepared the new performing edition, Ronald Shields directed, O’Dette conducted from the lute, and harpsichordist Kevin Bylsma prepared the more than 30 solo singers.

Read the rest of this entry »