Norman Lebrecht weighs in from across the pond with an outsider’s perspective on what the Barack Obama presidency might mean for the performing arts.
Mystery Track for the First Week of February
{enclose 2009.mystery.02.mp3}
The current mystery track: the finale from one of my favorite chamber works, Franz Schubert‘s Octet D803. Your mission: identify the players. Clue: not an organized ensemble per se. Answer will be posted late Friday afternoon. If you want, send your best guess to me here.
Yuir Bashmet’s Viola Self-destructs in Concert
La Repubblica online has an amazing sequence of photographs from an in-concert disaster yesterday evening in Torino: viola virtuoso Yuri Bashmet’s instrument, an extraordinary instrument built by Carlo Testori in 1758, fell apart during a performance with the RAI Orchestra. The orchestra’s principal violist, Luca Ranieri, loaned Bashmet his 400-year-old Maggini instrument to complete the performance. Bashmet’s instrument has been repaired and will hopefully be on its best behavior for his upcoming appearances in Chicago with the Moscow Soloists.
UPDATE: Word from the grapevine is that the tailpiece did indeed snap off, causing superficial damage to the upper plate, but Bashmet’s instrument was promptly and completely repaired.
Mystery Track Revealed
{enclose 2009.mystery.02.answer.mp3}
This week’s mystery track, the finale from Schubert’s Octet D803, is played by violinists David Oistrakh and Peter Bondarenko, violist Mikhail Terian, cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitzky, double bassist Vladimir Sorokin, clarinetist Joseph Gertovich, bassoonist Joseph Stideland, and hornist Jacov Shapiro. It is the final track on the final disc of EMI’s recently issued “David Oistrakh | The Complete EMI Recordings,” andis the first CD release of a pristine new transfer of thisrecording made especially for the set.
Update: Donald Rosenberg downsizes lawsuit against Plain Dealer
Here’s the update from the New York Times.
The Mystery Track Is Back!
{enclose 2009.mystery.01.mp3}
Here is 2009’s first mystery track: William Walton‘s Crown Imperial (revised version) captured in live performance. Your mission: identify the orchestra and conductor. Answer will be posted late Friday afternoon. Send your best guess to me here.
Mystery Track Revealed
{enclose 2009.mystery.01.answer.mp3}
William Walton’s Crown Imperial as performed on November 19, 1969 by the Hallé Orchestra and Trumpteres & Band of the Royal Military School of Music, Kneller Hall conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (the organist is not identified), at Royal Albert Hall. Oddly, the only sources for this recording are mono airchecks; the present one is a correctly pitched version of the same recording issued in CD format on BBC Legends 4100-2.
One preson correctly identified the maestro; none (!) identified the orchestra; two people nailed the venue. Three people guessed Sir Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Symphony; some of the more esoteric conductor guesses included Leonard Bernstein, Constantin Silvestri, André Kostelanetz and Arthur Fiedler.
Busy busy busy…
… as activist blogger, filmmaker and legendary party-crasher Scoobie Davis is fond of saying. I’ve been taking on some additional responsibilities for one client, initiating a digital archiving job for another, remastering some fascinating romantic-era piano concertos from analog tape originals for yet another, assembling additional talent for APJ, and generally burning the candle at both ends. Later this week, look for a new “guess the artist” audio sample.
David Patrick Stearns on RCO Live’s SACDs
One of the best music critics in America weighs in on the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra’s outstanding SACD series. DPS cites the Debussy/Dutilleux disc conducted by music director Mariss Jansons an all-Berg program conducted by Daniele Gatti, and I’m also mighty impressed…
Abbey Simon — Flash Format
{enclose AbbeySimonExtended.flv}