Category Archives: Program Notes

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3

By Posted in classical, General, classical, Music Writing, Program Notes Tagged , , , , Leave a comment
922879_4817686248520_1636737744_n

Beethoven bust in Tower Grove Park. Photographed by me.

I wrote about Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 (along with Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte overture and Benjamin’s Viola, Viola) for the St. Louis Symphony concerts of September 24 and 25, with special guest Yefim Bronfman. (My notes begin on p. 31.)

http://tinyurl.com/zlvlgjd

I had far more material than I was able to publish, given the word constraints, so I’m also including some supplementary content in the form of a PDF, which I hope turns out OK. If it does, I will probably start posting my notes for Dallas Symphony, which aren’t archived on the symphony website for some reason.

slsobonus082416

Vaughan Williams, Berg, Holst

By Posted in classical, Music Writing, Program Notes Tagged , , , , , 1 Comment

Gustav_Holst

On May 6 and May 7, the St. Louis Symphony and St. Louis Symphony Chorus performed Ralph Vaughan Williams’s Flos Campi, Alban Berg’s Altenberg Lieder (with special guest soprano Christine Brewer), and Gustav Holst’s The Planets. That’s Holst in the photo. I feel tenderly disposed toward him because I am also extremely myopic.

My notes begin on p. 26:
http://tinyurl.com/z6y4rt8

 

Dukas, Saint-Saëns, Mussorgsky

By Posted in General, classical, Music Writing, Program Notes 2 Comments

s-s

On April 15 and April 16, the St. Louis Symphony performs the overture to Polyeucte, by Paul Dukas; Camille Saint-Saëns’s Fifth Piano Concerto; and Modest Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition, orchestrated by Maurice Ravel. (That’s Camille Saint-Saëns in the photograph.)

Here’s a link to my program notes, which start on p. 26:

http://tinyurl.com/j2ppflz

Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette

By Posted in classical, General, classical, Program Notes Tagged , Leave a comment

 

92466080_large_Dzhon_Uilyam_Uoterhauz_Dzhuletta

Way back in mid-March, the St. Louis Symphony performed Hector Berlioz’s magnificent and underperformed dramatic symphony Roméo et Juliette. I wrote about it here (my annotations begin on p. 26).

The painting, by the way, is by the English pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse, from 1898. It’s not as old as Berlioz’s musical work, but I think it captures the spirit.

http://tinyurl.com/z2uz6zy

True Places

By Posted in classical, Music Writing, Program Notes Tagged , , , Leave a comment

TanDunHEAD

On November 27, 28, and 29, the St. Louis Symphony performs Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1; Tan Dun’s concerto for contrabass, The Wolf, in its U.S. premiere; Rimsky-Korsakov’s concert suite from his opera The Snow Maiden; and Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wolf. My program notes begin on p. 26:

http://tinyurl.com/ncvzy3d

 

Schumann, Beethoven, Nielsen

By Posted in classical, Music Writing, Program Notes Tagged , , , , Leave a comment

robert-clara-2

This weekend, October 23 and October 24, the St. Louis Symphony performs Beethoven’s “Egmont” overture, Schumann’s Piano Concerto, and Nielsen’s “Sinfonia espansiva.” My program notes begin on p. 26. I wrote a much longer version that included a lengthy appreciation of Clara Schumann, without whom Robert Schumann might have sunk into an undeserved obscurity, but I think I will make that a separate post. (I knew I had officially wandered too far afield when I invoked Suze Rotolo.)

http://tinyurl.com/q28rtol

Wagner’s Parsifal (selections) and Beethoven’s Ninth

By Posted in classical, Music Writing, Program Notes, Rants and Appreciations Tagged , , , Leave a comment

beethoven

On October 9, 10, and 11, the St. Louis Symphony and St. Louis Symphony Chorus perform Beethoven’s Ninth (and final) Symphony, preceded by selections from Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal. I write about the two works here (my essay begins on p. 25):

http://tinyurl.com/o7gs4ga

All-Strauss program at the St. Louis Symphony

By Posted in Music Writing, Program Notes, Various Worthwhile Things Tagged , Leave a comment

102181-richardstrauss-heroinesstrauss-richard-strauss-dirigiert

I have been terribly remiss in updating my blog, but better late than never, I suppose. In these program notes for the St. Louis Symphony (this weekend! I know! I suck!), I wrote about the much-misunderstood Richard Strauss: specifically, his tone poems Don Quixote and Macbeth, as well as the final scene from his final opera, Capriccio. I have many more things to say about Richard Strauss than I could express in the allotted space, and I think I’m going to start adding “extra” content to my blog posts. Why not? But not right now because other deadlines are nigh.

Anyway, here is a link to this weekend’s fantastic concert. If you didn’t manage to score tickets, you can listen to the live radio broadcast on St. Louis Public Radio beginning at 8:00 Central Time TONIGHT (Saturday, 9/26). It will be streaming on the St. Louis Public Radio website if you don’t live within the broadcast region of FM 90.7.

Here are my program notes for the concert:
http://tinyurl.com/qbwkr3z

Romantic Projections

By Posted in classical, General, Program Notes, Various Worthwhile Things Tagged , , , 3 Comments

Detlev_Glanert_Iko_Freese_DRAMA

The St. Louis Symphony performs Elgar’s Introduction and Allegro, Glanert’s Frenesia (in its U.S. premiere!), and Brahms’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (with pianist Emanuel Ax) on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26, 2015. My program notes start on p. 26.

http://tinyurl.com/qyu8bgz

Surviving Wagner

By Posted in Music Writing, Program Notes, Uncategorized Tagged , , , , 2 Comments
Gabriel Fauré, Ladykiller

Gabriel Fauré, Ladykiller

This weekend (March 6 and 7) the St. Louis Symphony performs Fauré’s Elegy for Cello and Orchestra, Wagner’s “Brünnhilde’s Immolation” from Götterdämmerung (Christine Brewer, soprano); and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 3.

My program notes are here:

https://tinyurl.com/y8a2m92m