AUTO Visits NEWS » Items by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Music: Aliens Are Attacking. Cue the Strings.

Posted: December 25th, 2008, 8:46am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Classically trained musicians are finding new outlets for their talents in the booming video game industry.

Music Review | Musica Sacra: Tradition Lives, Changed but the Same

Posted: December 24th, 2008, 5:35am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

There are now many stylish performances of Handel’s “Messiah” to enjoy each year, like the annual offering by the Musica Sacra Chorus and Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, led by Kent Tritle on Monday.

Permalink for 'NYT___Arts/2008/12/17/Music_Review____La_Boh%c3%a8me___Mimi_and_Friends_Return__Larger_Than_Life'

Music Review | 'La Bohème': Mimi and Friends Return, Larger Than Life

Posted: December 17th, 2008, 4:32am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Franco Zeffirelli’s production returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Monday for the first performance this season, with a fine cast that was not overshadowed by the gargantuan sets.

Permalink for 'NYT___Arts/2008/12/16/Music_Review____Later_the_Same_Evening___If_Hopper%e2%80%99s_Freeze_Frame_Magic_Sprang_to_Life'

Music Review | 'Later the Same Evening': If Hopper’s Freeze-Frame Magic Sprang to Life

Posted: December 16th, 2008, 5:21am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

“Later the Same Evening” is a one-act opera inspired by five of Edward Hopper’s paintings.

Music Review | Till Fellner: Beethoven Sonatas, a Touch Tempered

Posted: December 8th, 2008, 8:03am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

During an all-Beethoven recital by Till Fellner, it seemed as if this pianist has squashed any Dionysian elements of his personality into submission.

Music Review | Vox Vocal Ensemble: The Christmas Story Retold in Idioms of the Renaissance

Posted: December 8th, 2008, 7:59am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The sounds of Renaissance vocal music reverberating through the Church of St. Mary the Virgin made it easy to understand why the Council of Trent tried to ban it in the 16th century.

Music Review | Bang on a Can All-Stars: Strange Dreams, Channeled Into Music

Posted: November 10th, 2008, 6:29am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The genre-blurring group Bang on a Can All-Stars played a well-attended concert at Le Poisson Rouge on Saturday, meshing elements of jazz, rock, classical and world music.

Music Review | Dawn Upshaw: Soprano, Bottle Caps and Stick

Posted: November 4th, 2008, 5:32am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

A wide range of exotic instruments are regularly heard at Zankel Hall, but the soprano Dawn Upshaw’s concert on Sunday was unusual in that two of the composers had designed their own instruments.

Music Review | St. Lawrence String Quartet: Drawing on the Optimism in African Gumboot Dance

Posted: October 25th, 2008, 4:31am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The St. Lawrence String Quartet gave the premiere of David Bruce’s lively “Gumboots” for clarinet and string quartet on Thursday at Zankel Hall.

Music Review | New York Philharmonic: Emotional Rainbow (Hoping for Green)

Posted: October 18th, 2008, 4:28am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The New York Philharmonic gave a semistaged performance of “La Vida Breve,” an opera by Manuel de Falla, on Thursday at Avery Fisher Hall.

Music Review: Playing Bach With Nods to Two Centuries

Posted: October 15th, 2008, 4:26am GMT by By Vivien Schweitzer

With the Camerata Salzburg at Carnegie Hall on Monday night, Anne-Sophie Mutter demonstrated that she can play Bach with simultaneous nods to both the 18th and 21st centuries.

Music Review: Beethoven Moving on, Challenging Tradition

Posted: October 7th, 2008, 6:18am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Two ensembles, the Pacifica Quartet and the Orion Quartet took on Beethoven’s string quartets last week.

Music Review | Edward Parks: An Array of Feelings, Expressed in Song

Posted: October 7th, 2008, 6:08am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Edward Parks, a talented young baritone, sang like a man who had had his heart broken during a performance of Schumann’s “Dichterliebe” (Op. 48) at Christ and St. Stephen’s Church on Sunday.

Music Review | Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center: Intense Colors Amid the Ethereal Melodies

Posted: October 6th, 2008, 10:03pm GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Listening to a committed performance of Messiaen’s “Quartet for the End of Time” is an emotionally shattering experience.

Music Review | Bryn Terfel: Hundreds Sing Out With Welsh Spirit

Posted: September 18th, 2008, 3:10pm GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Many Welsh speakers were in the audience at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday to hear more than 400 male choristers sing much of a program called “A Celtic Celebration,” with bass-baritone Bryn Terfel as soloist.

Music Review | Le Poisson Rouge by Signal: Up to the Moment Pieces With Ancient Inspiration

Posted: September 17th, 2008, 4:39am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Steve Reich’s “You Are (Variations),” an intricate, bold and introspective work, was performed on Sunday at Le Poisson Rouge by Signal, a new chamber group.

Music Review: Distinctive Sounds Arise Amid Two Different Spaces

Posted: August 26th, 2008, 2:54am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The venerable Emerson String Quartet is accustomed to performing in glittering concert halls. But it seemed entirely comfortable at Joe’s Pub.

Music Review | Mostly Mozart Festival: Jazzy Clarinet for Mozart, and Mostly Finnish Touch

Posted: August 18th, 2008, 2:53am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The Mostly Mozart Festival continued Friday with Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 and Sibelius’s “Pelléas et Mélisande.”

Music: A Taste for the Natural, and Celestial

Posted: August 15th, 2008, 7:24pm GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

In honor of the Olivier Messiaen centenary, a new box set includes recordings of works from different periods of his life.

Permalink for 'NYT___Arts/2008/08/13/Examining_Facets_of_a_Beloved_Composer%e2%80%99s_Life'

Examining Facets of a Beloved Composer’s Life

Posted: August 13th, 2008, 3:22am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

The curators of “Prokofiev and His World” at the Bard Music Festival are concerned with exploring aspects of the composer’s life.

Music Review: A Verdi With More Laughs and Death

Posted: July 28th, 2008, 4:39am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

A new critical edition of Verdi’s “Forza del Destino” received a first-rate, semi-staged performance at the Caramoor International Music Festival.

Permalink for 'NYT___Arts/2008/07/19/Music_Review___La_Traviata__Verdi%e2%80%99s_Violetta_Amplified_for_a_Picnic_in_the_Park'

Music Review | La Traviata: Verdi’s Violetta Amplified for a Picnic in the Park

Posted: July 19th, 2008, 3:42am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

If part of the aim of free concerts is to lure new listeners, the New York Grand Opera Company’s performance on Wednesday surely won a few new devotees.

Music: The Marimba, Rich and Warm, Makes Itself Heard

Posted: June 27th, 2008, 9:57pm GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

An underappreciated resident of the percussion section beckons, especially those with long arms.

Music Review: French Ingredients, Russian Dressing

Posted: April 17th, 2008, 3:02am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

A program called “Obsession à la Russe,” presented by the New York Festival of Song at Weill Recital Hall on Tuesday, was enlivened by the witty commentary of the able accompanist Steven Blier.

Music Review | Dmitri Hvorostovsky: Russian Romances, Lovelorn Variety

Posted: April 5th, 2008, 3:30am GMT by By VIVIEN SCHWEITZER

Love was the theme of the evening at Carnegie Hall, when the remarkable Siberian-born baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky performed romances by Tchaikovsky, Medtner and Rachmaninoff.